Nexus
by rikkilucario7
Summary: (The third in the Connections series, can be read by itself, but better off with the other two.) Austin and friends are forced into action again when someone from their past comes back to haunt them around the same time the legends, freshly reincarnated, are found to have lost all memory. On top of that, the Key isn't where it should be, around Austin's neck... T for language.
1. Malignant

Well, my friends, I do believe it is time to begin the third book in my series, the third to Connections and the second to Links.

Google says:

nexus plural of nex·us (Noun)

1. A connection or series of connections linking two or more things.

2. A connected group or series: "a nexus of ideas".

I hope you all enjoy!

P.S. I won NaNoWriMo :) I hope some of you try it next year, it's pretty awesome!

Chapter One

_**Jay**_

Some of the nurses trusted my opinion. They said that I would know when it was my time.

I felt strong. I knew I wasn't going to leave this planet anytime soon.

The Make-A-Wish foundation had been worrying over me for five years, quite a long time. Not that they wanted for me to die a little faster, but they would send people at least once a month asking me what I would want.

The first time, when I was five years of age, I told them, "I wish to graduate college."

The lady took a deep, sad breath and responded, saying, "Honey, I don't know-"

"They don't think I'll live that long, do they?" I asked, looking away.

"No..." she said. She didn't continue with "I'm sorry" like most people. I liked that. I didn't like the pity most people put on me.

"I want to learn," I told her honestly. "I want to read and write and understand what the doctors are talking about when they use big medical words."

She put a hand on my shoulder and said, "I'll try to do that. I will. Would your parents help?"

"No," I said. "They're not coming back."

"What do you mean? They only went out to lunch," she said, looking confused.

"They're not coming back," I repeated. "But Lily will help."

Lily was the girl, five years older than me, who lived there at the hospital. She was an orphan, just like I soon would be. She had short red hair that fell just short of her shoulders and bright red, caring eyes. She was tall and skinny. She wasn't sick, or I didn't think so, anyway. She would help out here in any possible way she could. She liked to sing to people; her voice was beautiful.

Lily had been at an orphanage before something happened. I didn't know what, but for that reason the nurses let her stay in the room next to mine.

"Okay," she said. "I'll let them know." She got up and opened the door. She turned once more to look at me and she said, "Good luck."

I said back, "Thanks."

(MALIGNANT {jay} TNANGILAM)

They thought I would die. They, of course, being the doctors with the fancy machines and the nurses with my tests. "Malignant," they'd say.

It was small. About the size of a dime. Still, it was there.

And it was lodged right between my eyes, on the surface of my brain.

Cancer.

Hope you enjoyed!


	2. The New Kid

I decided you all might like it if I posted the next chapter, considering the last one is pretty short.

ENJOY!

Chapter Two

{THE NEW KID [jay] DIK WEN EHT}

I was ten and Lily was sixteen. She was a junior in the local high school and she had skipped a grade. By now I was as smart as she was, if not more. I read her text books and kept up with her class. The tutors stopped coming, as Lily was such a good teacher. And if I didn't understand something, she'd question her own teacher for me and report back with the answer.

She still lived in that hospital room, room number 77. It was a bright purple room with Lily's red sheets on her bed and the pillow case she had gotten presumably when she was born. It had her name written in rosy lines. There wasn't any machines in her room. The floor and cabinets were white and hard, though Lily had put pictures of us on them and their harsh appearance softened. Her textbooks and school supplies sat heavily on one the same her clothes were in, the one next to her bed.

Mine was number 76. The walls were a light blue, the floors white. The cabinets in my room, though, were a wonderful cherry-wood brown. I put my library books (from the book mobile and Lily) on them, and the same pictures of the two of us that Lily had. The one closest to the door had my clothing in it. There were at least three machines in my room in any given time. My bed and pillow set matched the walls' light blue.

We lived in what you might call the "permanent residence" wing of the hospital, on the top floor to the right in our huge building. The top, by the way, was the eleventh floor. Lily and I liked to go and study on the roof sometimes, when the nurses permitted.

At five o'clock Friday evening, Lily knocked on my door. I grabbed the folded piece of paper I used as my bookmark and stuck it in the book, then put it down on the floor next to my bed. I jumped down and ran over to the door, opening it quickly.

Lily was standing outside my door, looking down at a paper in her math book. There was a pencil behind her ear. "Hey," Lily said, then walked in and sat down on my bed.

"Need help?" I asked. I closed the door and sat down next to her.

"Yeah," she said, then pointed out a problem.

"Lily, what's six times eight?" I asked her.

Upon realization of her mistake, she smacked her forehead. "Damn it," she muttered.

"Just pay a little more attention next time," I tell her. "And can I have it when you are done?"

"I am done," Lily answered. "I corrected and re-did all the problems I got wrong. This was the only one I couldn't figure out. Here. You start learning, I'll go get my notebook."

"No need," I told her with a smile as she started to get up. I hopped down from the tall bed and raced over to the school supplies on the desk. I took my new notebook from somewhere in the middle of the stack and came back over. "Look at what Miss Kayla got me," I said happily. The blue notebook wasn't a spiral. It was a composition with a calendar in the back and over three hundred lined pages. There was even some graph paper.

"Wow," she said, gently taking it and leafing through it. "This is really cool!" she said, smiling. "Did you say 'thank you?'"

"Of course," I said. "I wonder why she did it."

"She cares about us," Lily said plainly. And she was right. Miss Kayla was twenty-six, dating a nice man, and our favorite nurse. She had curly, short brown hair and a small frame. She often helped Lily and I with money issues. Lily, of course, had a job, but sometimes her paycheck didn't cover all the notebooks and the books and our clothes.

Lily then handed over the math book. She said, "Enjoy. I'm going to go and work on science, if you don't mind."

"Will you work on it in here?" I pleaded. "I've been here alone all day."

Lily smiled. "Alright, alright. I'll be back."

"Thanks!" I called as she left for her room.

{THE NEW KID [lily] DIK WEN EHT}

The next Monday I woke up early and got ready for school. This basically consisted of me changing and brushing my hair and teeth.

After putting on my favorite red shirt and a pair of jeans, I grabbed my backpack and headed to the elevator.

"Bye, Lily!" I turned around just as it dinged to see Jay waving sleepily from his room.

"Bye, buddy!" I said as I stepped into the elevator. It had what was supposed to look like a wooden floor, carpeted walls, and railing along the sides.

I stepped out on ground floor. I passed Clark, the clerk (ironic, I know), who had brown hair and eyes. Black, square glasses framed his face. He was young, only twenty-three. "Have a nice day at school, Lily," he smiled as I walked out the revolving doors.

"Thanks," I said back. "You, too." I like that he was friendly, but not overly so.

I walked through the parking lot and then across the main street, Kelver Road**. **I turned a left and waited for the school bus.

When it finally got there a few minutes later, I climbed aboard and hooked an immediate left into the first seat. That seat and the one to the right of it were always empty.

I watched as the bus drove along its usual route. From Kelver to Crosky to Rouge to... Klace? What? That wasn't the usual route.

"Weren't we supposed to take a left at Rouge?" I asked the driver.

"Didn't 'cha hear, sweetie?" she asked. "There's a new one. He lives at the orphanage."

"The orphanage?" I asked. "He's an orphan?"

"Yeah," she said. "Poor kid. His parents brought him there last week. Don't know why, though. Wasn't for financial reasons, I know that."

"I hope he's alright," I said.

"Me, too, sweetie. Now, here he comes. Do me a favor, will ya, be nice to him?" she asked as the bus stopped and the doors opened.

"Of course," I told her.

"Thanks," she said, then started blasting music.

I expected this kid to be, I don't know, super depressed. In mourning. Nasty and mean because of what happened. Bitter, even. I expected him to just view this as another event of uselessness in a life of no meaning.

I was wrong, as you probably figured.

The boy had bright blue hair that fell in locks in front of his face. It hid his sapphire eyes. He wore a pair of blue jeans that were a shade darker than normal and a shirt that was black with a blue stripe across it. The boy also had a hoodey that was black. He had black glasses. He looked at the ground as he walked up onto the bus.

"Hey," I said to him, and smiled. "I'm Lily."

He searched my face for a moment before sitting across from me and quietly saying, "Hi. I'm Austin."

"You're new, right?" I asked him.

Then he did something very familiar to me: he looked at my forehead instead of my eyes. Jay did that whenever he was looking at my aura. "Yeah," he said.

I thought for a moment on what to say. I remembered how Jay could read my feelings and sometimes my thoughts. It was best to be honest with him, I decided. "I'm an orphan, too," I told him quietly.

The boy tilted his head a bit. Also something I'd seen Jay do quite often. "Why did you tell me so suddenly?" he asked, not rudely.

"Well," I paused and looked down the aisle. The nearest person was six rows down, and the driver was deaf whenever she blasted music like this. Trust me. "I have a friend. He can see aura, and he stares at my forehead whenever he does it. You can tell my emotions, right? I figured I should be honest."

"Alright," he said, then stared hard at my forehead once more. "Do you recognize me at all?"

_That__'__s__a__little__random__, __too__, _I thought. But I immediately realized then that I was comfortable around him. The only other person that took me less than six months to be able to speak openly and easily with was Jay. I was instantly comfortable with both of them.

"I don't recognize you. Not consciously. But I believe I recognize you..." I thought about the word for a moment. "Subconsciously, I believe."

"I recognize the patterns in your aura. I have no idea from where, though," he said.

"Me neither," I said. I rubbed my temple for a moment.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"The only other person I have ever openly spoken to right away was Jay," I said to him.

"That's interesting," he said. "Maybe it's the aura thing."

"I don't know," I said. "I don't know."

"Um, is Jay good with the auric abilities?" Austin asked. "Can he... control them?"

"I don't really know for sure," I said. "But I think he can."

"Could I... meet him?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," I told him. "You should know, though, we live at the hospital."

"Are you two alright?" he asked.

"I'm totally fine," I said. "The orphanage wouldn't take me, so the hospital did. Jay's got cancer."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't say that," I said, gently scolding. "Pitying him doesn't help. It makes him feel... hopeless, I guess."

"I- I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't-"

"I'm not blaming you for anything," I said. "Most people don't know." Then I did a double take. "Gawd, you do look familiar."

He smiled a little and said, "So do you. I wonder if we've met somewhere before."

"I wonder," I said. We looked into each other's eyes, and I got the strangest feeling that I knew exactly what his lips on mine felt like, as if we had kissed many times before.

I have missed these characters :D Glad to get back to their story! Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Black Out

ENJOY!

Chapter Three

{BLACK OUT [lily] TUO KCALB}

Austin got off at my bus stop that day. We walked down the street, back to the hospital. As we grew closer to the building, I noticed that he seemed to slow down a bit. Not only that, but once we were a few feet away he stopped completely. He looked lost and wide-eyed.

"Austin," I said. I tapped him, and he jumped.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head to clear it. "It feels... weird to be here."

"It's fine," I said. "I felt the same way, too, at first. Now, let's go." And so I walked him through the building, greeting all the nurses and doctors we went past. We climbed up the stairs and took a right into our wing.

"Lily, who's that?" I turned around to see Jay. Briefly I wondered how he snuck up behind me (and where he'd been) but then I remembered that this was Jay we were talking about.

"Hey, buddy," I said, smiling. "This is Austin."

And then, wouldn't you know it, they both stared at each other's foreheads and said at the same time, "You have a strong aura."

"So you can sense auras?" Jay asked. He tilted his head slightly.

"Yeah, I can," he said, a little nervously. He'd probably never told anyone before me.

"You must be a little overwhelmed with all the negativity here," Jay said understandingly.

"I wasn't expecting it," Austin admitted with a shrug. "But I'm alright. I can't imagine how you can deal with it all day, every day."

"You get used to it," Jay said. He shrugged. "But Lily is always positive. She helps me alot."

Austin turned to me, smiling, and said, "Yeah. You are positive. Thanks."

{BLACK OUT [lily] TUO KCALB}

The next morning, I sat down in my regular seat. This time I didn't need to remember that there was a new route we took to the school.

Austin got on the bus, his half-asleep expression brightening as he saw me. "Hey," he said, sitting down.

"Hey," I responded. "Are you ready for school?"

"No, I'm exhausted," Austin said. His eyes and the tired sound of his voice confirmed what he said.

"What happened last night?" I wondered.

Austin leaned back against the seat and sighed before answering, "I share a room with a little kid. Poor thing was crying all night. No one could quiet him."

"That isn't fun, not for either of you," I comment. I felt sorry for him, but knew he wouldn't like my pity the same as Jay didn't.

"Yeah. He got dropped off a couple days before I did," Austin said. His voice had turned a little sad and he turned his head away to stare out the window. Of course, I didn't think he was seeing out the window. I thought he was seeing the images replaying in his head.

"Austin," I said calmly and soothingly, "if you ever need to talk to anyone, know that you can talk to me or Jay any time."

Austin turned back to me and almost smiled. He said, "Thanks, Lily. I appreciate it more than you know."

{BLACK OUT [jay] TUO KCALB}

As the days passed, Austin came over a lot. I helped him get used to dealing constantly with different emotions. I taught him how to make an auric guard for himself, which I knew would be helpful. Lily and I learned that he was really a fun and happy person, you just had to dig past his defenses, the ones he had hastily built up over time. Why they were built, though, we haven't asked. Both of us know he'll share when he is ready.

About two weeks after we had first met and he had come over every day, Lily and I decided to ask if he wanted to sleep over (in my room, of course).

"Sure," Austin said that day, a Friday. He was smiling. "Thank you."

And so I left Austin and Lily to sit on her bed and finish their science homework while I snuck down to the hall closet. At eight o'clock, it was pretty quiet in the hallways. There were no more chores for anyone, no more food to deliver. No nurse or doctor appeared as I silently walked.

I punched in the code on the lock (The nurses are in and out of it every two minutes. It was pretty easy to watch them slowly press in the code.) and pulled open the door. Inside were blankets, pillows, catheters, IV bags, and a supply of the teddy bears given to the younger patients here. Lily and I both had one.

I grabbed a white pillow and blanket and then closed the closet. I walked back to the room, but first put my ear to the door. I heard the two of them laughing, and opened it.

"What did I miss?" I asked the two giggling teenagers.

{BLACK OUT [austin] TUO KCALB}

I woke up, my heart racing, in the middle of the night. I sprang up in my bed on the floor, wildly searching around for the few moments I didn't remember where I was. When I finally did remember that I wasn't in the dark room of the orphanage, my heart and mind calmed. I layed back down.

I couldn't fall asleep, though, as my arm started hurting. It was a weird, strangely familiar pain that seemed to spiral down my arm.

For a while I tried to ignore it, but soon I couldn't as it grew worse as time progressed. Suddenly blue and red light started spiralling down my arm in waves with the pain. I sat up and yelped, clutching my arm.

"Austin! Are you-" Jay immediately jumped down from his bed, but in the middle of his sentence he fell to his knees as the colored light started down his own arm. He soundlessly flinched as each spiral went down.

Then my body started slowly turning numb. I fought it, forcing painful movement into my fingers and then arms and legs. Abruptly all the feeling I had left was gone, and I started glowing. Finally, too exhausted, I let it all just take me.

I blacked out.

{BLACK OUT [austin] TUO KCALB}

When I woke up again, I was too exhausted to move. My arms felt like bricks and my legs as if my feet were hundred-pound weights. It took all my energy to simply keep my heart beating and my lungs working the oxygen in and out of them. For a few minutes I didn't even open my eyes.

"Austin?" someone asked.

I heard the familiar voice. I knew it well enough to detect the hidden fear. I couldn't name it; my brain wasn't ready for that type of process. Instead I opened my eyes.

My eyes opened to the white of a ceiling and blissfully dull lighting. I forced my head to turn towards the person I sensed at my left.

"Austin, are you alright?" Lily asked me. I could see the worry written on her face.

For a moment I couldn't answer. Again, my brain couldn't handle that much action. I could barely think at that point; speaking was out of the question for sure.

"Austin?" she asked again, and gently touched my cheek.

That must have sparked some life into me, because suddenly the jam blocking my thoughts was removed. "I'm alright," I said. "Maybe."

With that Lily stood up and started pacing, saying, "Gawd, I am so sorry, Austin."

"Why? You didn't do this," I said sleepily. I had to force my eyes to keep open.

"I- I don't know if I did," Lily said, continuing to pace. "I don't really know at all."

The light was starting to bother me, even though the amount was small. I lifted up my hand to cover my eyes-

"Shit!" I said. "My hand is black and furry! And I have a spike on my wrist! And-"

"You're a lucario," Lily told me, surprisingly calm. She stopped pacing and walked over, then sat down next to my makeshift bed on the floor. "And I'm a latias. Jay is a mew."

"How?" I asked, still staring at my hand. Excuse me, my paw.

"Well, have you ever heard of the Connections' legends?" she asked.

"The what?" I wondered, very confused.

"The Connections' legends," she states again. Lily gets up and starts pacing again as she explains, "They state that pokemon or people sometimes are connected by the universe in that both beings involved have the ability to turn into pokemon and humans. It also means you and the other force-morph at the same time, a.k.a. what just happened."

"Your arm hurts, then it glows, then you go numb, then your entire body glows-" I listed what had happened.

"I know, I know. I force-morphed, too. I'm so sorry," she said, stopping. Lily put her face in her hands sadly.

"Lily, it's alright," I assured her. Slowly, I managed to force myself into a sitting position. "I'm okay, you're okay, and Jay's fine, too, right?"

"Yeah..." she said.

"Where is he, anyway?" I asked.

"In his room," Lily said. Still, her head lied painfully in her hands.

"Lily," I said, sighing. I forced my tired body to scooch over to her. I gently touched her cheek, as she had previously done to me.

Lily lifted her face up, instead choosing to hug her knees and hide behind them. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Austin-"

"There's something I'm missing here, isn't there?" I asked her softly. "Lily?"

She peeked at me from behind her knees. Her usually bright eyes were red with tears that wouldn't allow themselves to fall.

I wanted to kiss her, to feel what I knew would be the familiarity of her lips against mine. I wanted to hold her to me until she was okay again. I wanted only to make her feel better, but I knew that the previous things may not.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed! If you did, please leave a review. Sorry to get all sob-story on you, but it makes my day whenever anyone reviews, even if it's just them saying the word "awesome." It also reminds me that you all like it and it makes me want to continue writing even more. So, please, review. I REALLY REALLY VERY MUCH appreciate it! Seriously!

P.S. Thank you for reading this long author note. :D You guys are awesome!


	4. Lifetime

GUYS! I accidentally stumbled upon a song called Iridescent by Linkin Park. It. Is. Jaeson's. Theme. Song. Go look it up! I swear, it fits him PERFECTLY! Though it makes a lot more sense if you've either read his past before or you wait until later chapters. Go find it anyway.

ENJOY!

* * *

Chapter Four

{LIFETIME [austin] EMITEFIL}

Then there was a knock at the door. The sound was loud in the quiet that had formed between Lily and me. The silence was calming, I thought.

I wobbly got up and carefully and slowly stepped over to the door. On my way past Lily I tapped her shoulder. She looked up and I said, "It's Jay."

"Thanks," she said. Lily stood up as I quickly opened the door.

"Austin, you're awake," Jay said. He was smiling. He looked to Lily, and his eyes grew sympathetic. He walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her. "Lily, none of this is your fault."

"I knew there was a possibility that it could happen," Lily said, sniffling. "I should have warned you two."

"Lily, it's not that big of a deal," I said. I looked down at my blueness and thought, _as__long__as__I__'__m__not__stuck__like__this__, __anyway__. __I__'__m__sure__there__'__s__a__way__to__be__human__again__, __though__. __I__bet__it__'__s__easy__._ "In fact, it's kind of cool. Now I know why I have my aura abilities."

"Austin..." Jay started. He looked up at Lily, who had embraced him back. "Can I tell him?"

"Yeah..." Lily said, trailing off and looking away.

Jay first led Lily over to his bed. He sat her at the head of it, sat next to her, and then called me over, saying, "Come sit, Austin."

I walked over, being careful not to trip over anything as I was still pretty weak on my feet. Being a lucario felt kind of... natural. I mean, I didn't mind being one. It didn't feel awkward or weird even though my shape had changed.

I sat down and Jay began.

"Lily was abandoned because she was born a latias. She lived in the orphanage until she was ten, when she first morphed. The office staff decided she was defected and kicked her out," Jay told me. Lily listened to the story, mostly looking away from us. Occasionally she glanced at me, looking for my reaction. I tried to meet her eyes with a smile. "That's why she lives here now."

"I'm-" I started, then realized she probably didn't want to hear "I'm sorry" one more time. "Lily," I asked instead, "are you okay?"

"I got over my past a long time ago," she said, meeting my gaze and smiling sadly. "I'm just scared that you'll end up this way, too."

"I won't," I told her.

Lily looked away again. "If you say so."

{LIFETIME [austin] EMITEFIL}

I got back to the orphanage later that day (that day being Saturday), after Jay and Lily had given me a tutorial on how to morph. I was back to my human self.

I walked into the terribly-painted orange building. It looked sad to me, but the owners liked it. I couldn't tell why in the world they did.

"Austin," the receptionist, Connie, called me, sounding stern.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Where have you been?" she asked, now sounding demanding.

"I was at a friend's. I called, remember?" I asked her, hoping.

"Yes, I remember!" she snapped. I flinched at her sharp words. "You were at the hospital! With Lily! Don't go near her!"

"Why?" I asked, my voice small. I looked at the floor, my shoes, out the door. Anywhere but at her angry face. "What has she done?"

"She morphed," Connie said simply. Then she suddenly looked at me, looked at me up and down with a wide-eyed look on her face. "And you did, too!"

"What... what are you talking about?" I asked. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes you do! I can tell!" she yelled. "Get out!"

"What? I don't understand," I said. "Please explain!"

"Stupid! Get out! The devil has touched you!" Connie screeched. She picked up a stapler and got up. She came around the desk and headed towards me. "Get out! The devil can be blue as well as red!"

I backed up until I was in the corner.

"GET OUT!" she screeched once more.

I ran past her and then out the door as fast as I possibly could.

{LIFETIME [austin] EMITEFIL}

For awhile I just walked. Walked slowly, numbly. For that while I didn't think, just kept my feet moving. I walked along the alleys, the roads. I found that I had been going in circles, all centering around the hospital.

Finally, as all the rest of the daylight slipped away, I decided I needed to go somewhere for the night. I couldn't just keep walking forever.

I entered the hospital.

"Hello? Can I help you?" the clerk asked, looking up from his computer.

"Is... Is Lily here?" I asked him. I knew nine o'clock was quite late for visiting, but I hoped I could. "She's a friend of mine."

"She is," he said, smiling. "You're Austin?"

"Yeah, I am," I answered, a little suspicious.

"She said to let you up at anytime," he explained. "Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah. Top floor, to the right," I said, and my suspicions vanishing.

The clerk nodded. With a smile, he said, "Go ahead."

I said thanks and walked down to the elevator. I pressed the button that would take me to the eleventh floor. I listened impatiently to the elevator as it chimed out each floor. One, two, three... Eleven couldn't have came fast enough.

I stepped off the elevator and headed right. I forced myself not to run to her door. When the ages passed and I was finally standing in front of the piece of wood, I knocked a few times and said, "Lily?"

"Are you alright, Austin?" I turned around to see none other than Jay.

I heaved a deep sigh. I put my head in my hands and said, "No... I'm not."

"Austin?" Jay said.

"Yes?" I wondered.

"The feelings I sense you and Lily have for each other are quite similar," he said randomly. In the long run, I realized it wasn't so random. "She's on the roof. Go to her."

"Jay-" I started, unsure.

"Sh," Jay said, and shook his head. "You will figure it out. Now go."

I wanted to ask him so many things. Did she love me? Was there a reason I felt so lost in this world, but with her and Jay I felt found? Did he know the reason as to why I felt familiar with him and Lily right from the start? Did-

"Austin," Jay said, breaking me away from my thoughts, "go to her."

I smiled and I said, "Thank you, Jay."

I raced down the hall and threw open the door to the roof's staircase. I climbed the maroon stairs two steps at a time. When I finally stood at the door that led me to the building's top, I stopped for a moment. For no reason in particular, really. Maybe I subconsciously realized how different things would be in a few minutes. Unaware of this thought, I opened the door.

Lily was sitting at the edge of the roof, her red hair swaying beautifully in the wind. She turned at the sound of the door closing. "Austin? Are you okay? What happened?"

As she got up and walked towards me, and all the thoughts I wouldn't let myself think before crashed down on me. I felt my face go red and my eyes start to wet. "Lily, they kicked me out. They told me I was the devil. They-"

I stopped as she wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. She whispered, "I know, I know, They're bad, bad."

I kept going, feeling my emotions soaring. I hated the feeling of it. "Lily, they hate us. But it isn't your fault. You can't blame yourself."

She kept whispering, "I know, I know, Austin. It's okay, it's okay."

"But it isn't okay, Lily," I said. Feeling tears surging, I gripped her tighter and put my head on her shoulder. "They said such horrible things. And it must have been ten times worse for you."

"Oh, Austin, please don't say you're crying over me," she said quietly into my ear.

"Lily, I hate what they said. But I hate even more that they'd hurt you like that," I said. Of course, I didn't quite realize I was saying all this out loud.

"They don't know. People are scared of things they are unsure of," Lily said to me.

"Then they should learn," I told her. "I wish they could see how horrible and terrible and nasty they are."

"Austin," Lily said. "Austin. Look up."

I did. I looked at her face, her beautiful, wonderful face. She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

I took her head in my hands and I kissed her.

Suddenly everything just went away. The only thing that I thought about was how absolutely fantastic it was to have Lily's lips on mine. They felt so familiar, so right. It was if we had kissed again and again... just not in this lifetime.

{LIFETIME [jay] EMITEFIL}

I closed the door to the roof gently, careful not to make any noise. Austin had figured it out. I had seen to that, and now it was time for the two to have some time together... alone. In other words, no more spying on them. I swear I had to in order to get them together. I promise you that.

Then I sensed him.

Or, rather, I sensed his aura. I narrowed my eyes and concentrated. Once I sensed his aura again, I whipped around. "I know you are there. There is no use in hiding from me."

There was no response from the aura. I sensed interest in him begin to occur.

I held up the palm of my hand and felt the aura shape into a dangerous sphere.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked the aura. Interest in him grew. "This is an auric pulse. An aura sphere is used in battles. This is different. It will affect the electricity in your body negatively. I will shoot it if you don't respond. I warn you. I'm a great shot."

"Jay, you wouldn't shoot me... if you had all your memories, anyway."

* * *

When I was proofreading, right after the "'I won't,' told her" part, I was like, "No! I hate this part!" and then I remembered what happened next and I said, "Wait! No! I like this part!"

I especially like the ending. Now, who could the voice be? Cookies for whoever can figure it out!

P.S. I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Jaeson

And so, since Writer S. Block has moved on off my property and onto that of the poor soul across the street, here is the next chapter.

ENJOY!

Chapter Five

{JAESON [jay] NOSEAJ}

"Who are you?" I demand from the mysterious aura. The aura told me that if I could see him, he'd be smiling.

"You don't recognize my aura?" he asked me. "Well, it was worth the attempt." The aura walked directly in front of me. I would have shot it, but I was too busy realizing I _did_recognize it a bit. Suddenly there was a flash of light, and a boy appeared in the place of the aura. He was wearing a black hoodey and blue jeans. I couldn't see his face.

I gasped and stepped back, directly into the door. "Tell me who you are!" I demanded.

"I'm Jaeson," he said, in a tone of voice you would hear if you were being reminded of something.

"W-who?" I asked. The interest in him turned to what I'm going to call a disappointed hopefulness.

The boy took down the hood he was wearing, revealing himself to me. I gasped; he looked like my twin or something. He had black hair and a face very similar to mine... except he had purple eyes and I had blue ones. Also, he seemed a bit older. "Now do you remember?"

"No," I stated.

Jaeson sighed. "I'm Jaeson, the mewtwo. You are Jay, the mew."

"You're a mewtwo?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah," he said. He lit white for a moment. When the white cleared, he was a mewtwo. Then, with another flash, he was a human once more. "And you're a mew."

"How did you know that?" I asked, not quite demandingly. Mewtwos were legendaries. I didn't want to piss him off.

"Believe it or not, I know just about everybody! Especially my best friends," he said, crossing his arms.

"I've never seen you in my life," I argued, crossing my own arms.

"In _this_life, maybe," Jaeson said, snorting. "What is keeping you from getting your memory back, anyway? Do you have cancer or anything on the surface of your brain?"

For a moment I didn't respond. He was seriously asking me this. Seriously. I swallowed before saying, "...Yeah..."

"What?" he demanded, his eyes widening.

"Yes, I have terminal cancer," I said. "Now, please leave. I don't know you."

"I have a job to do, Jay, and that job is to get you your memory back," Jaeson began. His arms were still crossed, and any emotion in his face had turned stone cold.

"What memory?" I demanded. "Nothing has affected my memory, so go away."

"I can't," Jaeson said, and he shook his head.

"I'll fight you," I warned, drawing my hands into fists. "Go away." I would have called security long ago to take care of who I thought was a freak, but the nearest button was in my room. I'd have to get past this Jaeson kid to push it.

"What are you trying to protect so much? You don't even know what you're up against," Jaeson said. He tilted his head, curiosity taking over his aura.

That's when I jumped at him. I didn't know who he was, and I did not want him to hurt my friends.

Jaeson sighed as I jumped at him. He grabbed my arm and threw me down. I got up as fast as I could and punched his head... or where it was supposed to be. I missed, and Jaeson kicked my legs and I fell over.

I jumped up and tried to sock him in between the eyes, but he was still too fast. He grabbed my arm and swung me into the wall. He pinned my arms and legs to it before I could even fall over.

"LILY! HELP!" I screeched as loud as I could.

Suddenly the door slammed open, crashing against the wall so hard a hinge screeched for the split second before a broken death abruptly submerged it. Lily emerged, Austin behind her, both with wide eyes and worry written across their face. "What's going on?" Lily and Austin demanded at once.

Suddenly, a light momentarily flashed before revealing a girl who appeared to be the same age as this Jaeson person and me. She had white hair that reached down to her ankles and white eyes that matched. She wore a pale blue pair of jeans and an orange shirt over her small frame. I thought she looked just as tall as the kid and I were.

"Jaeson! Put him down!" she demanded.

"He-" Jaeson started, he had pulled away just enough so I could free my elbow. I rammed it into his nose and he fell back onto the hard tiled floor. "That's it," he muttered, standing up. Quickly, the girl snapped her fingers and a barrier appeared in a flash as if someone had shined a light against glass. The barrier took on a slight purple coloration. Jaeson crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, clearly very annoyed.

I rubbed my wrist, a little sore from where he had yanked on it. I glared at Jaeson, but he wouldn't meet my gaze. I thought I sensed sadness in him, but it was for such a short time I skipped it.

"Jaeson," the girl said sternly. "I know you're very upset that your friends don't remember you and that Jay is trying to hurt you, but you shouldn't beat him for it."

"I never said-" he started.

"You didn't have to," the girl stated. "I can see it clearly in your aura." She tilted her head a moment and said, "Come on, Jaeson. You know I can see past your barriers."

_Barriers__? _I wondered.

Jaeson stared at the corner for awhile in silence before he said, "Oh, f**k it."

Suddenly Austin gripped his head with a silent cry of help, twisting and twitching a moment in his pain before falling to the ground, fainted.

"W-what did you do!?" Lily gasped. She almost screamed the words.

"He triggered the returning of Austin's memories," the girl explained slowly, putting her hands up near her face as if in surrender. "He'll wake up very soon. I promise."

"How soon?" Lily demanded. "Will he forget everything?"

"No, no, quite the opposite," she responded, her words still slow and calm. They were soothing, even. "He's going to remember his past lives. He'll still remember this one, though. Nothing he remembers now will leave his memory."

Lily, now shaking with fear and anger, didn't answer. Instead she slowly fell to her knees on Austin's right side and then gently took his hand.

"It's so weird to see her like this," Jaeson said quietly. It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. "The Lily I know would be yelling at us right now." Jaeson took a deep breath, like one you would take to calm yourself.

I realized then that the sadness I had felt in him was real. I had once heard (from where, I had no idea) that blocking emotions was possible, though so hard it was nearly _im_possible. Maybe he was blocking me and his block had slipped for just a moment.

Abruptly Austin sprang up into a sitting position. He said, "My gosh! My life just flashed before my eyes. Wait, no, _lives__. _That was weird." He then shook his for a moment and stood up. He reached a hand down and pulled Lily to her feet as well.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked immediately upon standing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, smiling. He turned to the girl for a moment, then Jaeson. "And I remember everything now."

"Welcome back," Jaeson said. He was smirking, a happy fire lit in his eyes. It was the closest thing to a smile that he could get to, a voice yelled into my head with a flicker of something like pain.

"Thanks," Austin said, the fire lighting in his eyes, a familiar-looking smirk forming on his lips. "Glad to be back."

"I don't understand," I said, feeling my eyebrows scrunch together. "What are you remembering? What have we forgotten?"

Austin shook his head sadly and said, "So much, so much." Then he took Lily's hands in both of his and said, "Lily."

"Yes?" she asked, looking unsure of everything, it seemed. Was this unlike her, in Jaeson's eyes? How did he know that it would be?

"I love you," he said, pleading with his eyes for her to remember. She looked sad, confused. Lily didn't understand, and neither did I. "Please, remember that. Remember me."

"I-" she started, then suddenly yanked her hands from Austin's and gripped her head. Silently, she yelled and screamed, her lips moving in agony but her vocal chords frozen. Finally she fainted, falling into Austin's waiting arms.

"Did I do it? Are her memories returning?" Austin asked, switching his gaze from the girl to Jaeson a few times.

"Yes," the girl said, nodding. "You did it, Austin." She wiped her hand across her face as it reddened. She thought this was bittersweet, judging by her aura. I didn't understand, and at that point I didn't think I would ever.

"Now we only have to trigger the return of your memories, Jay," Jaeson said. He stared at the ground and let his face fall into a focused expression. The intensity of his thoughts showed through his eyes. They flicked across every few seconds. It looked as if he was studying something in his mind.

"Austin?" I heard Lily's voice.

Austin jumped a little, surprised. He smiled grandly and said, "Lily?"

"I love you," she said. "I remember that. And I remember you." They kissed for a moment before Austin squeezed her.

"I love you, too," Austin said, still clutching her. It was as if he was afraid to loose her.

"I've got it," Jaeson said abruptly. "Jay, do you remember the marshmallows?"

"The _what__?" _I asked, making a face to go along with my confusion. Suddenly a terrible, horrible pain exploded in my head. I gripped it, squeezing it to try and dull the relentless and merciless pain. "Help," I managed to enunciate. I fell to the floor, feeling spasms overtake me.

"Destiny, let me out!" someone yelled. There was a snap. I felt arms around me, Lily's probably.

There were more words, many more. I could hear them, but I could not focus on them enough to understand. The pain was too great.

CLIFFHANGER!

And now for some mass ranting:

I had myself a good laugh when I was proofreading. JAY didn't want to piss JAESON off? JAY was afraid of JAESON? What has this world come to? xD

And the security thing had originally been that they'd all gone home. I read and asked myself, "WHEN does THAT happen in real life, RL? When?" And so it was changed.

Is it wrong that I'm hysterical over my own story? I mean, seriously, Jay is actually trying to hurt Jaeson. WHAT IS THIS?


	6. One Moment

Chapter Six

{ONE MOMENT [jaeson] TNEMOM ENO}

Jay had fallen to the ground, and was now writhing in agony, face scrunched and eyes squeezed shut. Lily and Austin separated and Lily ran the three steps and fell to her knees to wrap her arms around Jay.

"Destiny, let me out!" I demanded. (Destiny is the white-haired girl, since Jay wouldn't have known her name.) She snapped and I was free.

"What's happening?" Lily demanded.

"I don't know," Destiny said, taking her head in her hands. "Something's very wrong."

"Terminal cancer," I said quickly. "There's terminal cancer on the surface of his brain."

"That would do it," Destiny said, a haste to her words. "Lily, let go of him."

"Okay," Lily said, and she reluctantly released the squirming boy, then stood up and stepped over to the wall.

Destiny sat on her knees next to Jay. "Jaeson, I need your help. Austin, Lily, yours too." The three of us, standing, stood close, gathered around Destiny. "Austin, Lily, think happy thoughts and sit on his left side," she instructed, and Austin and Lily hurriedly walked around to sit where they had been instructed to.

"Jaeson, hold him as still as you can," Destiny told me. She moved back to give me room. I gently took his hands from his head and pressed them into the ground with one arm, and held his thrashing head still by holding the crown of his head and keeping it in place.

"Okay," I told Destiny, nodding up at her.

"Thanks," she said. Destiny sat down beside me. She held her index and middle finger of her right hand to the space on his forehead between his eyes.

Jay fought against my grip, but I was determined to help Destiny help him. Truth be told, I missed Jay. And Austin. And Lily. Those three and Destiny were my closest friends, and I was not about to go by this without doing anything to help.

Destiny slowed and deepened her breathing to be opposite of Jay's quick, short breaths in hope to try and help calm him. Austin and Lily tried to think happy thoughts to reassure him through aura, but it wasn't helping that much, and it was clearly putting a strain on them to be happy in this tense and horrible situation. Still, Destiny probably assigned it more for them to have a job and feel useful than anything else.

Finally, Destiny started the actual healing process, as her usual calming methods weren't working too well. She closed her eyes and took controlled breaths, each one deep and peacefully slow. As she exhaled, a slight green auric glow appeared around her fingers. Green was the color of life and healing.

I could picture the cancerous cells in Jay's brain disintegrating one by one. Cancer was the hardest for her to cure, as she could only do one cell at a time, else she hurt her patient. Destiny probably wanted to refrain from hurting Jay's brain.

I knew that she would be exhausted and probably faint when she was finished, so I readied myself to catch her when that happened. I didn't know how large the tumor was, but I could tell by Destiny's expression that it would take all her strength.

I almost didn't notice Jay faint a few minutes later. It was probably from the intense pain that was hitting him. I hadn't known the effect the tumor would have on the recovering of his memories. Still, I realized I should have alerted Destiny before this.

After close to thirty minutes, Destiny finally got up and moved a few steps. She sat down and leaned against the wall, finished and exhausted beyond measure, it seemed to me.

I got off Jay (you never know, he could have woken up and messed Destiny and therefore himself up) and went to stand next to her.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, letting a sliver of concern slip into my voice.

She looked up at me, a tired relief in her eyes. "Yeah, I think I am," she said, then turned her head to look at Jay. "He looks so peaceful now."

I turned my head from looking down at Destiny to over at Jay. She was right. Jay did look peaceful. Instead of the agony that had first coated his face, there was now an unmistakable calm. The corners of his lips were turned up in the slightest smile and his breathing was slow and constant. Some might even call it relaxed.

"Are you going to faint?" I next asked my friend, careful to make the words into a concerned question without letting too much of the actual emotion to slip into it.

"I'm not sure, maybe," Destiny said. She yawned, then patted the ground next to her. "Sit. It's been a long day for all of us."

"Agreed," Austin said. He was sitting cross-legged with his elbows propped up on his knees and his head resting in his palms.

"Yeah," Lily said, and her mouth opened wide in a yawn. She was also sitting cross-legged, but her head rested in the palm of one hand rather than both.

"Fudge," Jay said randomly. I noticed his breathing had become a bit faster and the slight smile had disappeared. Otherwise he lay in the same position with his eyes closed and arms laying easily at his sides.

"You alright?" Austin asked.

"I think," Jay said. He lazily threw his right arm over his face to cover his eyes. "That hurt."

"Does it still?" Destiny asked. I was almost surprised; I had thought she had fallen asleep already, judging by her slightly slowed breathing and closed eyes.

"Yeah," he said. "Not too terribly, though. Just a throb. I've dealt with worse in this life, even."

I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for his pain. I had known about the tumor and hadn't alerted Destiny. I decided apologizing was a good idea. I thought through what my words were to be a little more, but before I could say anything, Jay spoke again.

"Jaeson, there's no need to be feeling guilty," he said. There was no scolding tone in the slightest, not that I would expect there to be, but I could hear the tiredness ringing in his voice. "Even I didn't know the tumor would affect anything." I wasn't surprised he saw past my auric block.

"Jay, you didn't know anything until a minute ago, much less the effects of a cancerous tumor to memory-regaining," I remarked. I had to admit, even _I_couldn't block out the tiredness in my voice at that point. I glanced at Destiny, who was definitely asleep. I knew it for a fact this time as I could sense her dreaming. Lily and Austin, I noted after a glance in their direction, were leaning against each other, eyes closed. Asleep? I decided so.

"I mean I wouldn't have guessed, had I had my knowledge, that it would have happened," Jay explains more clearly. He opens his eyes and quickly looks around, then closes them again. It seemed to be laborious for him to even accomplish that small motion. "This is going to be a disaster tomorrow morning when the nurses or someone comes and sees all of us lying here."

"No, it won't," I said. "I'll use my psychic powers. You and Lily will wake up in your beds, and Austin and Destiny will wake up in our home."

"Sounds good. Where's this home of yours?" Jay asked. He yawned after the words were finally drawn out.

"It's a condo that we bought with 'inherited money,'" I told Jay, smirking a little.

"Also known as...?" Jay questioned.

"Remember how we hid safes for ourselves in our last life?" I asked Jay. He took a moment to remember, but then nodded.

"Okay," Jay said, then yawned yet another time. I wondered for a moment how he was still awake. "I can't stay awake for much longer, just so you know."

"I do know," I said to Jay calmly. "Goodnight, my friend. Welcome back."

"Thanks," Jay managed before he finally joined Destiny, Lily, and Austin in the land of dreams.

I opened Lily and Jay's doors. I then smiled a bit to myself as I psychically lifted Lily and Jay into their beds. I made sure to put the blankets over them. I then lifted Destiny over to Austin so I could teleport them both easily.

I walked over leisurely, something I did not do very much. I gently laid a finger on Austin's right shoulder and Destiny's left. I then used my power, and we appeared in the condo with a small quick and white flash of light. I placed Destiny under her pink sheets on her bed, Austin in my blue bed, and went to the closest to the right of my room for a pillow and blanket. Not tall enough, I was surprised not to find myself annoyed at having to morph back into my taller eighteen-year-old self to get the pillow from the top shelf.

I walked slowly down the hall and then left into the living room. I put the blanket and pillow down and then pulled the bed out of the couch. I put the pillow on it and then the blanket.

I climbed into my makeshift bed. I was surprised not to be bombarded immediately by the list of worries like usual. That would be thanks to my biggest concern, finding my friends and triggering their memories, being chopped off the list. The next biggest one decided to give me a break and avoided me, too, thankfully.

I let myself fall into a happy, relaxed sleep. It wasn't usually fitful, just not... like this. Not necessarily content. I usually only went to sleep when I felt overworked and my thoughts didn't add up correctly.

I dreamed that night. It was something I hadn't done since my last life. Better yet, it was an actual _dream__, _not a nightmare. For that one moment in time, all was right in the world.

Firstly, see above. That made me happy. For all the time I screw with Jaeson and friends, sometimes I give them a moment to enjoy life.

Anyway, on to more serious matters.

PLEASE READ:

This book and everything else I write to you all is dedicated to the victims of the shooting in Connecticut: Dawn Laffery Hochsprung, Mary Sherlach, Lauren Rousseau, Victoria Soto, Olivia Engel, Emilie Parker, Rachel Davino, Anne Marie Murphy, Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Josephine Gay, Ana Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockey, Madeleine Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnel, Anne Marie Murphy, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison Wyatt and every other person shot and everyone (if anyone) who had to watch it happen. Notice how I don't just put the number, I put their names. I do it because numbers are cold and heartless and too commonly used to describe something so horrible. You don't really realize how terrible and horrific and I'll even say devilish things like this are if you say a number. You have to hear the names of the poor, poor people that won't ever get to feel the warmth of another hug or see the beauty of the morning and the sun and the moon and the days and the nights to truly understand what's happened here.


	7. Didn't Fear

ENJOY!

Chapter Seven

{DIDN'T FEAR [austin] RAEF T'NDID}

"Shit!" I yelped. I sprung up into a sitting position and stared madly around. I breathed a sigh of relief as I remembered the previous night. Actually, glancing at the clock, it was only a few hours ago.

I was sitting in a blue bed. The room was medium-sized and the walls were the same darker shade of blue as the bed. There was a window behind it, black curtains covering it up. There was a mahogany desk to my right, an alarm clock on it with glowing red digits. Four in the morning, it read.

There was a knock. "Austin? Are you alright?" I heard Destiny ask me, her voice soft in case I had fallen back to sleep.

"Yeah," I said. "Where am I, exactly?"

"Can I come in?" she wondered.

"Sure," I said.

Destiny gently turned the handle and slid the door across the floor. It hit the wall softly, just a slight thump.

I noticed then that she wasn't the little girl I remembered from my past lives. She was an adult now, at least eighteen. Her hair wasn't as long as it used to be; it didn't reach her ankles anymore. Now it gracefully fell around her elbows. And no more did she have the squishy, soft face of a little kid; she had the well-defined angles of an adult. Even her eyes had changed! They weren't white-grey anymore, they were a very light blue.

Right now she wore the same clothes she had been earlier. I realized that I was, too. Then I remembered that we had all fallen asleep, so Jaeson had probably teleported us to bed.

"What's wrong?" Destiny asked.

"Nothing really," I said, shrugging. I looked up at her and said, "You've really grown up. Jaeson must hate that."

Destiny laughed. "Yeah. He refuses to accept his little sister has grown up."

"Don't tell me he still treats you like a little kid," I said. If you asked me, I thought Jaeson was overprotective of her. _Way_overprotective of her.

"No, no," she said, leaning on the doorframe and slightly shaking her head. "He just visibly hates when I get involved in anything possible dangerous."

"Well, if I had a sister, I'd probably be the same way," I admitted to her. "It's kind of a guy's nature to protect his sister."

"What about Lily?" Destiny asked, a bit of cockiness slipping into her voice. She crossed her arms.

"Now you see, Lily's different," I told her. "If I try and protect Lily, she will sock me."

Destiny smiled and her shoulders shuddered as she giggled. "That seems so like her. Apparently it's worked, though, so maybe I should try it."

We let the picture of Destiny punching Jaeson in the face run through our minds for a moment. Destiny and I burst out laughing.

After a few minutes of loud laughter, Jaeson appeared in the doorway behind Destiny, looking exhausted. His black hair that usually fell in orderly strips around his head and face was all over the place. His arms hung limply by his sides. Normally they were crossed. He was still wearing his clothes from today.

"Hey, Jaeson, come to join the party?" I asked. I heard the tiredness in my voice.

He gave me a look for a moment, then said, "That was a pretty vicious nightmare."

I felt my eyebrows raise. "You were spying on my dreams? You can do that?"

"No," he said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the hall wall opposite my door. "Destiny did. She shared them with me. But, yes, I can. I just don't."

"Way to rat me out," Destiny said, turning to give Jaeson a fake-angry look. She turned back to me and said, "I was curious about your state of mind."

I shrugged. "You know, I don't know why I care anymore. Between you, Jaeson, and Jay, my mind has been invaded a billion times."

"Good to know," Destiny smiled.

I sweat-dropped. "Oh, Gawd."

Destiny laughed. After she was done, she nudged Jaeson. They appeared to have a telepathic conversation as both locked eyes.

"Who was that kid?" Jaeson asked me plainly.

"Jaeson!" Destiny said, annoyed. "That kid caused the entire nightmare; you can't just ask that to anyone!"

"He's not just anyone," Jaeson said. "He's Austin."

"Oh, thanks," I muttered. I put my head in my hands, trying not to let the night's horrorfest slip back into my mind. I had seen it once. I didn't need to see it again. I knew, though, that my friends would help me. "His name is Kai Zair."

"Who is he?" Destiny wondered, curiosity in her voice.

"The day I came to the orphanage he told me he'd make my life worse than hell," I told them. I flinched as the nightmare broke my mental barrier and the memories flooded back. "Fudge."

"You alright?" Jaeson asked from his nice spot on the wall.

"I don't know," I sighed, my head still in my hands.

Destiny then whispered, "What do we do?"

"Why are you asking me?" Jaeson wondered quietly.

"You've known him for longer than I have," Destiny stated. "And you're one of his best friends. You should know how to help him."

". . . We should call Lily," Jaeson decided.

"It's not even five in the morning," Destiny argued.

Jaeson shrugged. "She'd come. Trust me."

"You realize I can hear both of you?" I asked.

"No," Destiny said.

"Yes," Jaeson responded. "I was wondering why we were whispering." Jaeson smirked.

Destiny slugged him. "Screw you." (YES! Way to stand up to Jaeson, Destiny!)

"So," I said, attempting to stop whatever fight may (or, more probably, may not) emerge. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Our condo, my room," Jaeson said.

"Oh," I said, a bit surprised. "Where have you been sleeping?"

"Couch," Jaeson said.

"You could have put me there," I reminded him.

"I'm aware. I chose not to," he let me know.

I chose to take it as an expression of kindness. "Well, thanks," I said, no sarcasm present.

"Yeah," Jaeson said. "Now let's go to bed. We can invade Austin's psyche more tomorrow."

"Or in a year or so," I said. "I think that sounds like a better plan."

"Good luck with that," Jaeson said, and he straightened off the wall. "G'night." With that he walked back to where he'd come from.

"Night, Austin," Destiny said. She nonchalantly backed out of the room and closed the door.

"Night, guys!" I called. I layed back down on the pillow and pulled the blankets up to my chest, then got ready for another round of nightmares.

(Nightmare begins. (Where are my spaces, ffn? Where?)

The world was dark. There was no light, and I felt blind. Even my aura was not working.

"Goodbye."

I heard the voice and I screamed. He was coming for me. I felt my legs start moving in the darkness, but I couldn't see, I couldn't see. I would surely bump into something. I stopped, unsure if I should keep moving. Maybe I'd lost him?

"Goodbye."

Again I screamed. I ran and ran, as fast as I could, as far as I could. But I was so tired... I knew I would be done for soon. I abruptly slammed into something hard. It stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Goodbye."

I hurriedly felt the walls around me, my hands shaking with fear and desperation as I searched for a hole, a door, any way out. He would kill me.

"Goodbye."

I found it. Finally. I twisted the door's handle and yanked the door open. I ran through the darkness again, my heart beating faster than a ratatata's. I could feel my breath coming in ragged, short breaths. My eyes were wide, my steps as fast as my tired legs could carry me.

I slammed into another hard something. I screamed as I felt the walls closing in on me. I could feel Kai's breath on my neck, so I started kicking out, desperately trying to get out of the situation somehow. My legs didn't catch anything, and I screamed once more.

"This world won't miss you."

I felt a shiver run up my spine as my movements slowed. The numbness started in my fingers and slowly and mercilessly flowed up to my wrists. It creeped up my arms and finally grew to my shoulders. My arms fell to my sides, the numb rendering them limp and useless. I screamed for help, but I knew no one would ever come.

The numbness was still spreading. I couldn't feel my core. It suddenly started speeding, and I could feel it dripping down my legs. Finally it reached my toes and I fell to the ground. I was defeated. I looked up and saw Kai's figure, an evil smirk on his face and knives in both hands. He looked down at me and said, "Goodbye."

I screamed.

"Austin! There has to be light somewhere if you can see him! Find it!"

The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place who. The only people I knew in the world right then were myself and Kai.

Either way, the voice was right. I frantically searched all around me, looking for the light.

"There's no more light for you, no way out," Kai assured me as he walked forward. Three steps away.

I knew there had to be. Had to. I was sure. I continued my search, then realized that the only two places I hadn't looked were behind Kai and above me. He was two steps away.

I looked up, craned my neck and saw as far up as I could. No luck. No light. Only the endless black. He was one step away.

I swallowed. Finally, after gathering my courage, I looked his way. I didn't look at him, I looked behind him.

Then I saw the light. Lights, actually. They were white and red and purple and pink. The colors seemed to form figures, familiar ones at that. I searched my mind.

Then it hit me.

They were my friends. They helped me to see.

I smirked up at Kai now. He stood above me, knives raised.

I stood up, the numbness suddenly disappearing, and punched him in the face.

(Nightmare ends.)

I woke up then. I stared at the ceiling for a while, realizing what had just happened. I sat up, and Jaeson was leaning in the door frame. "You alright?"

It was then that I realized who the voice had been. "Yeah. Thanks, man."

Jaeson smiled for a moment. Just a single moment. With that he stood up from the door frame and walked away, closing the door behind him.

I layed back down onto the pillow.

I didn't fear going back to sleep.

YAY! Jaeson has emotion of some kind! And he smiled!

Jaeson: Damn it, I'm never going to live that down, am I?

RL7: Probably not.

Jaeson: *emotionlessly walks away, secretly defeated*

RL7: *quietly cheering*


	8. Love, Dangerous Stuff

I love this chapter so much!

P.S. It's winter break. YES FREAKING YES. Anyway don't expect an extreme amount more since I've got to study for finals and such (Wish me luck. These are my first official finals. I'm terrified xD) and also I meant to post this several hours ago, so sorry about that!

Chapter Eight

{LOVE, DANGEROUS STUFF [destiny] FFUTS SUOREGNAD ,EVOL}

The next morning, I opened the gleaming glass door to the library. I walked in, waving at the librarian currently sitting behind the brown desk. I made a left and turned into the reading area, a room with calming shades of yellow on the wall and muffled white carpeting. There was a big window covering one wall, showcasing the forest behind the library. It was beautiful this time of year, the wonderful greens and light browns decorating the area. Little pokemon sometimes scurried along its edges.

I sat down in one of the many cushy chairs, welcoming the sight of their orange that my mind had given the meaning of relaxation. I had of course welcomed my friends' memories returning, but I was still pretty exhausted from the whole ordeal, especially getting rid of Jay's cancer.

"You look tired today."

I turned in my seat to see my friend, Felix, approaching. "Yeah," I told him, then sat back in the chair. "I am."

He came over and sat in the seat across from me. Felix had brown hair that reminded me a little of Jaeson's in that it was kind of long. To be more descriptive, his hair was short around his face but fell in elongating layers down to his neck. I liked it. He had plain brown eyes, but they rarely seemed so. They were usually bright with curiosity or happiness. He wore today something similar to what he usually did, a blue shirt (not T-shirt) and jeans.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, concern in his eyes. In his aura, too.

"Fine, fine," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "Just a bit tired is all."

He gave me a worried look but simply said, "If you say so."

I smiled and said, "I do."

Felix smiled as well. "Did you finish 'My Sister's Keeper?'"

"I did," I said happily, awakening a bit at the exciting prospect of discussing the novel. You see, we had met through a book club. The book club only met twice a year, and that satisfied neither of the two of us. So, we made our own mini book club. "I thought it was excellent. What did you think?"

"I thought-" he started, but then came a high-pitched scream.

I immediately jumped up. Felix got up, too, and we raced over to see what the problem was.

There was a mightyena staring into the window. His eyes were slightly narrowed through concentration. Apparently, he was looking for something. Or someone. His eyes skipped across me, then quickly jumped back. He looked me up and down, avoiding my eyes. I looked at his aura. He was curious... in a dark way. Looking closer, I realized he was a morph.

Finally I forced eye contact between us to happen. He narrowed his eyes to suspicious and dark slits. Slowly, he back away into the forest, his eyes never leaving me.

"That was weird," Felix said. "I've never seen a pokemon behave in that way. He seemed to be staring at someone."

_Me__, _I thought, but didn't say so. "Yeah," I said instead. "Weird. I wonder why."

"Let's go back to our seats," Felix suggested, motioning towards our chairs with his head.

"Good plan," I said, and we ventured back.

When we sat down, Felix took in a subtle yet deep breath. I glanced at his aura. I had to mentally go through my various human psychology books before I realized what he was about to do. _Crap__... _I thought. _Please__, __chicken__out__. __Do__us__both__a__favor__._

But, no, I wasn't so fortunate.

"Destiny, I..." he swallowed. I looked on, waiting, dreading. "I- I really like you. Would... would you go on a date with me?"

I knew it would happen. I knew it. I had seen the pink in his aura glow a little brighter the moment he saw me. I admit that I, too, had feelings for Felix, most of which I was confused about, but I knew I could never let anything become of them. I could never put a soul in such danger as being bound to me by marriage.

I suppose you may not know. I am Destiny, Fate's successor. I am an arceus, one of the most sought-after and powerful legendary pokemon of all time. I am, essentially, the queen of the universe. My job is to watch over the world, to prevent it from collapsing. Jaeson, a mewtwo, is my protector. He protects not only my physical body, but my mental one. Fate, the arceus who came before me, went crazy as her life faded away and she almost destroyed the universe.

There is no way that I would put Felix, or anyone, really, in that much danger. Jaeson I... Jaeson was special. He'd been with me since the beginning, and there wasn't much I could do to convince him away. Nor would I want to.

"Felix," I said. "I like you, I do, but I..." _Oh__, __how__can__I__say__this__without__breaking__his__heart__? __Why__, __oh__, __why__did__I__do__this__? __I__knew__it__would__end__like__this__... _"I can't. It isn't you, I swear. I may be an adult but I'm not ready for a serious relationship." _And__I__never__will__be__._

"Oh," Felix said. The colors in his aura turned dark with sadness. "That's okay."

I bit my lip. "I'm sorry. I am."

Then, well... I guess you could say I was saved by the bell. Or so I thought, anyway.

"Destiny!" I stood up at Austin's voice. He ran over to me, panting. "You need to get out of here. Now."

"What? Why?" I demanded. Quickly my thoughts on Felix disappeared as I saw the fear in Austin's aura.

"Just trust me on this one. Hurry!" Austin demanded, and he began running.

"I- I'm sorry," I told Felix, whose expression had turned sad.

I started running after Austin when I heard the shattering of glass. Austin and I stopped in our tracks and whipped around.

The mightyena from before stood in the broken glass, wildly whipping his head around, nostrils pumping and eyes darting from side to side. Finally he found me, his eyes locking. With a slight glow he morphed into a hybrid.

He had fur covering both shoulders. Pointed ears sprouted from the black hair that fell down his neck like a mane. He had clawed hands curled at his sides, long, furry arms connecting them to the rest of his body. He had evilly gleaming black boots, gray, smoky pants, and an oil-black shirt. His eyes, his red-yellow eyes were what scared me the most. Not to mention the smirk on his face as he slowly walked towards me.

"Goodbye," he said. He held his hand up to his ear and started forming a dark ball of energy. He whipped it forward.

"No!" Austin yelled. His eyes suddenly filled with the fuelled anger of recognizing your enemy as he formed a mini aura sphere and threw it at the guy. Did Austin know him?

The two energy balls exploded with a blast of smoke in the center of the room. There was screaming as people ran out of the room.

The smoke cleared. It revealed the mightyena morph to be holding a man, knife-like claws to his neck. That man was Felix.

I gasped.

The guy shook his head disapprovingly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Miss Queeny, you know you aren't supposed to fall for humans. Especially dainty ones like this." Then he turned his cold gaze to Austin. "And Austin, I told you I'd make your life hell."

Austin swore worse than a sailor.

Suddenly the man's eyes rolled back into his head. Felix quickly stepped away before the body fell to the ground, fainted. The falling of the guy revealed Jay.

"What the heck?" he wondered. He looked down at the morph before saying, "Who IS this guy, anyway?"

Austin took a deep, angry breath before he said, "Guys, meet Kai Zair. The biggest asshole to have walked the earth."

Jay looked at him, his head tilted. "Are you alright?"

"No. Just, no," Austin said. "I need to go punch a tree. Or ten." With that, he stalked through what was left of the window and into the forest.

"Destiny?" Felix asked in a small voice. "I... I don't understand."

"Felix... I'm sorry. I lied. This is the real reason I can't be with you," I told him. My voice was just barely audible. My face was pointed away and down at the floor. "I... I am a legendary morph. An arceus."

"You asked me how I felt about morphs..." he trailed, his eyes widening in a sudden epiphany.

"...Because I am one," I finished, still refusing to look at him.

"Destiny," Jay whispered. I slowly turned my head to look down at him. "Marissa, my wife five lives ago, was a human."

"You... Destiny, that's fine with me," Felix said. His words were solid and absolutely sure.

Biting my lip, I looked at him. "Felix, I can't endanger you like that. You were a claw stroke away from being dead not five minutes ago."

Felix said fiercely, "Yes you can. Destiny, I want to be with you. I'm willing to take the risks."

"Your life? For me?" I asked, doubtful.

"Yes," he said. I looked at his aura. It confirmed his honesty and desire.

"I'm going to go and find Austin," Jay said randomly. I knew he thought we were going to kiss. He was wrong, though. I wouldn't let myself. I felt so confused at my own emotions... I couldn't bare it.

"You're not confused," Jay whispered as he teleported away. I heard say him in my head, "You just won't accept it."

I took a deep breath. I knew what this would mean. This would be a commitment. This would be dangerous for both of us. He was so easily a hostage; I was so easily a target.

But something in me knew it was worth it.

I looked up at him, inhaling another large amount of air. "Okay," I whispered. "Okay."

Felix smiled so brightly it lit up his aura. He stepped forward and took my head in his hands and kissed me.

{LOVE, DANGEROUS STUFF [jaeson] FFUTS SUOREGNAD ,EVOL}

There was one thing I could not protect her from, and I knew it. Furthermore, I knew the danger had now been set in motion.

Love.

Damn the stuff.

RL7: Jaeson, you little spyer.

Jaeson: Is it not my job to protect her?

RL7: Yes, but... Yes!

J: So.

RL7: You're lucky you're a fan favorite. I would kill you off.

J: No you wouldn't. I'm not just a fan favorite, I'm YOUR favorite.

RL7: … I never said that.

Jaeson: Yes you did. Just not here.

RL7: ! DAMN YOUR PSYCHIC POWERS.

Austin (in a sad, desperate, and high-pitched voice): Whatever happened to me?

RL7: *laughs* Austin, you're probably the REAL fan favorite. I don't actually know...

J: Set up a poll.

Austin: You don't actually care if you're fan favorite, do you?

Jaeson: I didn't think people liked me. Apparently they do.

RL7: Have you not heard my sister ranting about you? She was mad at me because I made you different for a while.

Austin: After the marshmallows.

RL7: Yeah! Whatever happened to that, Jaeson?

Jaeson: . . . *Walks away with thoughtful expression on face*

*Silence for a time*

Austin: Why are you still typing this? Go set up the poll for goodness' sakes!

RL7: You really want to know, huh?

Austin: Yes. So I can torture him. I've made a plan. Even if I lose I can still annoy him for a while.

RL7: Why are guys always so mean to each other?

Austin: Why do you like to torture your characters?

RL7: Because it's fun and makes the story interesting.

Austin: Exactly. Now go set up the poll so I can torture Jaeson.

RL7: *Clicks away from Google Docs* Whatever. It's done. Now we wait.


	9. Realizations

Merry Christmas to you all!

Or if you're a Jew like me Happy late Hanukkah!

Or Happy Kwanzaa!

Or if you're none of the above Happy Holidays!

Or Happy There's Almost Enough Snow to Cover the Ground! (Here in IL)

Or Happy Winter!

Or Happy December!

Or Happy Something!

Anyway, as a very late Hanukkah (DARNIT GOOGLE DOCS IT'S MY HOLIDAY I'LL SPELL IT THE WAY I WANT) gift/ Christmas gift (If that's so then you have to wait until tomorrow to open it!) or as a Kwanzaa gift (early or late? Someone please tell me, I have no idea) or whatever, here's the next chapter!

Chapter Nine

{REALIZATIONS [jay] SNOITAZILAER}

I walked slowly into the forest, my eyes closed. I set my focus on Austin's aura, which was only a few yards away. I could feel the anger vibrating off him in waves. He was punching a tree with bloody knuckles, slowly denting the tree while attempting to straighten himself.

"Austin," I said as he came into view.

Austin stopped. He stood still, breathing deeply in and out. His fists were clenched at his sides and the tension in his shoulders and back showed through his black shirt. His hoodey, a dark blue, was thrown to the side. "Yes?" he asked in a voice that covered his anger like a rug over two feet of dirt. He was trying not to be sharp with me.

"Why does he make you so angry?" I asked him, preparing to play therapist.

Suddenly, something clicked in my brain. The same thing that made me teleport to the library in the first place.

I recognized that guy's aura.

"Jay, don't you know who this guy is a reincarnate of?" Austin demanded. He turned his head to me with a face full of fake calmness. "Don't you recognize his aura?"

I swallowed and took a deep breath before answering. "It can't be. The legends locked him up."

"Clearly not tight enough," Austin said.

"Wait, no, it's been five lifetimes," I said as the abrupt memory came back. "He was only condemned for five lifetimes."

"No, no, no! They let him go?" Austin said. I saw the anger that took up almost ninety percent of his aura fade a small bit into fear and astonishment. "This is the person who kidnapped all of us legends and almost starved us to death in his basement. This is the guy who would of won had I not committed suicide. Thank goodness Destiny revived me. They let him GO?" Austin's tension seemed to double. Austin was squeezing his fists so tightly I swear I saw a drop of blood from his short nails digging into his palm fall to the ground. Though that could have been from his knuckles.

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed, then placed my head in my hands. I backed up a step and distraughtly fell against the tree behind me."This is such a disaster."

"How could this happen, though? How could he still remember me? Us, even?" Austin asked, though his quietly disbelieving voice made it seem as though he were talking to himself.

"Well, he was conscious the entire time he was sitting in the little sphere of distorted space Dialga made him," I reminded Austin, lifting my head to look at him. It was kind of a moot point, though, as he was still staring at the broken tree. "It's possible that he vibrated our names and his feelings of hatred in his mind long enough that he could remember them through the process of reincarnation."

"Why didn't we just keep him in that little sphere? Why risk anything happening?" Austin asked. He began to shift from side to side as if he wanted to pace, but his feet didn't budge from their spot.

I shook my head sadly. "Only Uxie knows. It was her decision," I told him. "She had her reasons; I am absolutely sure of it."

Austin began to rub his temples. "Jay," he sighed.

"Yes?" I asked, my head back to sitting in my hands.

"He told me my first day at the orphanage that he'd do everything he could to make my life a living hell," Austin said. "I believe he will. And he wanted something with Destiny, probably to get back at me."

"He most likely wants her dead. That'll render the rest of us pretty shocked... or that's what I think he wants," I told Austin. "He wants to make us, especially you, probably, feel the same pain he did."

There was a small flash of light. As it faded away, Jaeson appeared. "John Pratt has reincarnated. He attacked Destiny then teleported away."

"You just missed our entire conversation on that," Austin said, sighing. "Good to know he teleported, I guess."

"He must have something to do with you all not regaining your memories as you got to the age of around eight," Jaeson said, ignoring the whole 'missed conversation' thing.

"Agreed," I put in. "But what? He's a hoothoot; maybe he could have done something with his psychic powers. After all, five lives ago he himself generated the shield that kept us all locked up and rendered our powers useless. And he was just a mightyena."

"Yeah, he did, but Dialga put-" Jaeson suddenly stopped and did a facepalm. Then he swore a few times.

"What?" Austin and I demanded.

"He may have evolved in there," Jaeson says, palm still on his face. "Noctowls can put nearly anything into focus. The shield that we normally put upon things is visible and can be visibly disabled. I am such an idiot."

"Crap, you're right," I realize, also face-palming. "It isn't just your fault, though. We shouldn't have assumed he got most of his power and direction from his ally, Fate, at the time."

"That is also true," Jaeson said, removing the hand from his face. I did, too. "Anyway, I came here to tell you both that you can't stay at the hospital anymore."

"Why not?" I demanded. Jaeson tapped his forehead, and the realization hit me. "I don't have cancer anymore. My next biopsy is scheduled tomorrow. What do we do?"

"Well, I suggest you both change your ages and names and get an apartment," Jaeson suggested.

"I can do that?" Austin asked. His voice and face portrayed calmness, but I could still see the subtle tension in his body and surely see the anger, frustration, and other swirls of emotion in his aura quite clearly.

"Yes," Jaeson said.

"I'll teach you later," I said to Austin, who nodded his thanks.

"What about the nurses' database and crap?" Austin asked Jaeson.

Jaeson smirked. "I'll take care of that, no problem. Austin, choose a new last name."

"Aurastone," he said, and smiled. "That brings back memories. I haven't been Austin Aurastone for some time."

I smirked to myself before saying, "I think Lily will like to be Lily Aurastone again."

Jaeson smirked, too. Austin laughed. "Hold your horses, Jay, we're not even eighteen."

"You can change your age. Will change it, actually. You need to," Jaeson reminded him.

"Never mind, then," Austin responded, smiling. It wasn't as happy as it usually would have been.

"Speaking of," I said. "I think you have an appointment with Doctor Lily."

"I'm fine," Austin insisted.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Really? You're going to deny that?"

"I'm fine," Austin repeated, nodding to try and better drill it into my head.

"Jaeson?" I asked for his opinion.

"I'll go get her," Jaeson said, smirking a little at torturing his friend.

I smirked at Austin as well. As I teleported away, I said, "Trust me, she's a great doctor. You'll just love her."

Austin laughed as I teleported away, but it I knew it was to be short-lived.

Yeah. Poor Austin. Now you all see why there isn't a chapter up about the mightyena dying a slow and terrible death. Hope you enjoyed!

P.S.

OH, MY GAWD!

I just had a splendid idea.

What if Dark and friends met Austin and friends for a holiday thing?

That would be interesting...


	10. Signal

Guys, you remember the bonus chapter? Well, I got so confused because it said chapter 11 when I went to update. It literally took me ten minutes to figure it out xD I'm so stupid.

I like this chapter :)

Chapter TenN

{SIGNAL [austin] [a week later] LANGIS}

Destiny, Lily, Jay, Jaeson and I had all gathered in Jaeson and Destiny's apartment. Everyone but Jay had squeezed onto the large couch in the living room. Jay was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of us.

"So we gathered here why, exactly?" I wondered.

"To figure out what we're going to do next," Jaeson reminded me.

"Right, right," I said, remembering.

"We should set some goals," Lily suggested.

"Good plan," Destiny agreed.

"First we need to figure out where Pratt's reincarnate is," Jaeson decided.

"That can wait," Destiny argued. "We need to find Uxie and get her recovered first. She might know more than we do."

"Might?" I asked. "She's the being of knowledge, she knows all."

"Not all," Destiny corrected. "Most."

"What?" Lily asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

Destiny shook her head. "Never mind."

Lily and I met glances nervously, but didn't press her further.

"How do we find her?" Lily wondered.

"I could find her using my aura," I reminded Lily.

"How far is your range?" Destiny asked.

"About ten miles, maybe," I said, then realized her point. I could only search in the immediate area, but Uxie could be anywhere.

"I can multiply his range, remember?" Jay reminded us.

"Good point," Destiny said, nodding.

"Give me your hand," Jay instructed. I held it up and he took it. "Go ahead."

I closed my eyes and felt my ability activate.

"Found her," Jay and I said at once.

"Already?" Lily asked. "That was fast."

"Yeah. She's at the high school," I told everyone.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Our high school?" she asked disbelievingly.

"That would be the one," I confirm. "And she is kind of freaking out currently."

{SIGNAL [?] LANGIS}

I sat in Mr. Avery's class, bored out of my mind. Math was by far my easiest subject.

"Seera," I heard the man say. "Answer the question, will you?"

I glanced at the board. There was a complicated equation. "Six. X is equal to six."

Mr. Avery narrowed his eyes. He knew I wasn't paying attention, but I was smart enough to figure things out quick enough to answer any question within a reasonable time period.

Even though I was a mere freshman, AP calculus was too easy. I was probably the smartest girl this school had ever seen. Not that I bragged about it. Because of me being in so many advanced classes, most people thought I was a freak and wouldn't talk to me.

It was a blessing and a curse.

If the truth as to why they didn't talk to me was that they were jealous of thought I was a freak, I didn't really want to talk to them.

Still. I was pretty lonely.

{SIGNAL [?] LANGIS}

I was a hitman, though not the kind you'd think.

Eighteen is pretty young, I know, but this is who I was. Also, I was an eevee morph, giving me that much more of an edge. Being a girl helped, too. To be underestimated is always better than being overestimated.

More specifically, I was about 5'6 and had short brown hair and a muscly yet thin frame.

"Knight," I whispered into my head set. "Help."

"Help? The great Eve needs help?" Knight asked, screwing with me and probably enjoying it.

"Shut up. I'm under the guy's desk. If he moves an inch he'll kick me and we'll be six feet under," I said, hissing a little with anger and frustration. Knight and Thunder, who was also on the line, knew me well enough to know it was myself I was annoyed with, not them.

"Then Will will kill us," Thunder added.

"No, but he'll be mad for half a second," I told the two. "Will doesn't get angry for more than a second, remember?"

"Yeah, good point," Knight said through the earpiece in my ear.

"Still, I could use one of you as a distraction right now," I reminded them.

"Room two-two-one?" Knight asked.

"Yeah. Hurry," I said, confirming.

A few moments later I heard a scream, shrill and loud. The man, I think a Mr. Avery, got up immediately and raced out the door.

I felt my human body glow white for half a second as I turned into a pidgey. Those things were all over the place, and the window was open. Perfect.

I walked out from under the desk, happy to be free.

"Who let a pokemon in here?" the man shouted as he came back in. His students jumped.

"No one, it came through the window," a blonde girl informed him.

"When?" the man demanded.

"Not sure," the girl said. "I was too busy focusing on calculus."

The man gave her a look. She simply smirked, obviously knowing he couldn't win.

He walked towards me. I jumped up and flew out the window, just barely avoiding his hands. (Knight would've been more than pissed if he touched me, even if it was harmless. Me? I don't bother with anger. I would've bitten his finger off and moved on with my day.) I landed on the outside of the window.

"You don't like pokemon, do you?" the girl from before asked.

"No, not really," he responded. "Now let's get back to math."

"That work?" I didn't jump as Knight's voice abruptly flooded into my ear.

"Yeah, thanks," I said. "So what are we waiting for, again?"

"We're waiting for Thunder to get there," Knight reminded me.

"Right, but why is he taking so long?" I wondered.

"There's people in the hallway," Thunder said, speaking up finally. "I'm waiting for them to leave."

It was another three minutes before there was a frantic knock at the door. An annoyed Mr. Avery stalked across the room and yanked open the door.

In the doorway stood Thunder, faking fear. He was pretty convincing with his wide eyes and slight shaking.

"What? What is your reason for interrupting my class?" the irritated man demanded.

"I-I t-there is-" he started, then blinked twice, my signal.

"Spit it out!" Mr. Avery yelled.

Just then I raced back through the window and smashed into the back of his knees. I immediately tore right, just barely dodging him as he fell harshly onto the ground.

Thunder screamed, then ran out of the room. That would be Knight's signal.

I landed on the desk momentarily before speeding out the window again.

"Hey, Eve," Knight said. The short riolu with a gun walked up to me.

(His human form was 5'8 and he had bright blue hair the same color as his current fur. He was like me, long and lanky yet short.)

"You switched the ammo?" I asked. "Will'll kill us if he dies."

In response, Knight took out the ammo and showed me the three darts. Each had a tip that would dissipate once it touched skin and the poison would leak out. This poison would keep you asleep for until another drug that canceled the first was put into your system.

"Time for bed," Knight decided as he finished his journey to the window. Knight stuck the small pistol's nozzle into the room and shot. The silencer did it's job, and the class didn't even notice the shot.

Knight ducked down just as the shot hit its target. He sat below the window sill, waiting for Thunder to join us so we could get out of here.

Well, I certainly hope you all enjoyed! I used to use those three as my main's a LONG time ago. It's nice to use them again, I think.


	11. Only You

I have to admit that I was very confused with my own story line for a few moments. I fixed it, though xD We're all good now.

Chapter Elevven

{ONLY YOU [jay] UOY YLNO}

"I'll go get Uxie," I offered my friends.

"Enjoy. Don't get killed," Austin told me.

With that I teleported away.

{ONLY YOU [seera] UOY YLNO}

The kid with yellow hair must have told someone, because about four seconds after Mr. Avery fainted, a teacher came screaming in. She called the police, and we were all sent home immediately.

I was walking the lonely mile home when someone familiar said, "Hello."

I turned around, not able to place the voice with a name right away.

{ONLY YOU [jay] UOY YLNO}

The girl turned around. She smiled and said, "Hello, Jay."

I tilted my head to the side just a little. "You remember me?"

She shook her head, her short light yellow hair swishing around her shoulders. "No. I just know your name and face. Have since I was little. I also know a Jaeson, a Lily, a Destiny, an Austin, and a Fate. Then there are two more girls, one whose name I think is Mesprit and one Azelf, but that couldn't be right because they're legendary pokemon."

I smiled then. Whatever had locked away our memories couldn't hold back all of Uxie's, apparently. "All correct."

"In that case, tell me, please, who am I?" she wondered. "I remember nothing about these faces, but I have a feeling of trust associated with all of them accept Fate."

"Again, very good," I told her. "I do not think you'll believe me, but you are a legend yourself. Uxie is your true name."

The girl shrugged. "I believe it. I'm a freshman taking five academics, all AP classes. I have perfect A+'s. I also know several legends and I know one of the faces, Austin, is missing a necklace."

This peaked my interest immediately. "Do you know what it looks like?"

Uxie smiled. "I do know. It's a blue dog tag with a yin-yang on one side and a sword on the other, right?"

I nodded. "Exactly."

"So," she continued. "What else don't I know?"

"A lot," I told her.

"How do I learn?" she asked next.

"Well," I began, "you have to recover your memories. I don't know much, but from what I've seen there is a word that will trigger them. It also triggers a lot of pain, though."

"That's alright," Uxie told me. "Let's try to find the word."

"Now? Your parents-" I started.

Uxie cut me off with a long, harsh laugh. "They never worried about me. I drifted off when I was six, but they weren't angry, they weren't sad, they never noticed I was missing. They're so sure I can care for myself that they let me."

"If you are sure," I tell her.

"I am," Uxie assured me.

"In that case..." I said, and thought. I remembered the time she and several others were kidnapped by a man by John Pratt. One of the others was named Avalon. She was a jirachi and Pratt had been threatening her to grant his wishes, else the others would be shocked. Maybe there was something hidden there? "Wish," I tried.

Uxie tilted her head. "Nope."

"Avalon, Gekido, Nico, Nicole..." I listed the names of the others that were there.

She shook her head. "Nothing."

I looked down at the ground, forcing my mind into overdrive. "Maybe it's something only you know."

Suddenly Uxie swore loudly, gripping her head. I rushed over and said quickly, "I'm taking you back to Jaeson and Destiny's apartment, okay?"

"Sure," Uxie gasped.

I put my hand on her shoulder and teleported.

{ONLY YOU [eve] UOY YLNO}

Thunder, Knight and I entered the cave, hitting a specific spot on the wall four times as we went. The back panel opened up, revealing an elevator.

Stepping into it, I hit the button that would take us eight stories below sea level.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we stepped into the floor that had our rooms. I felt safer here than any other place, especially in the fabled safety of airplanes. I hated those things.

"Welcome back," Will said, smiling as he appeared out of his room. Will was pretty short at only 5'5, but even if he was seven feet tall he wouldn't be intimidating. He had a gentle and happy face and light orange hair. Will was just a few years older than Knight, Thunder and I at twenty-two, but four years was a lot more than you'd think, especially in the way of experience.

"Thanks," I told him. "Is he here?"

Will nodded. "Top floor."

"How is this not kidnapping?" Knight wondered.

"Because we're police-approved," Will explained.

"Good to know," Knight said.

"Shall we begin the questioning?" I asked.

"You mean shall I?" Will asked. He came over and gently put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you're eager to get Pratt, but we can only find him so quickly."

Damn. He had seen right through me. I looked away, silently steaming at my clarity.

Will moved his hand away and, recognizing my steam, said, "Eve, there are four people who know you well enough to look at you as if you were glass. Three are standing in this room."

We all kind of looked at the floor, knowing the fourth was Laek. Pratt had kidnapped him two weeks ago, and we had no idea where he was. Yet another bone I had to pick with Pratt. At this point there was a whole skeleton of them.

{ONLY YOU [eve] UOY YLNO}

Will came back down about an hour later. He walked out of the elevator and leaned back against the wall beside it.

"Nothing, huh?" I asked, leaning against my door. The doors all faced the elevator.

"We have a possible location. That's it," Will said.

I brightened a little. "That's better than nothing. Where?"

"A water park resort in Florida," Will told me.

"The Dells?" I asked. It was the only one I knew.

"That's in Wisconsin and is probably twenty times more popular," Will corrected me. "It's called The Sea's Tree and is half indoor and half outdoor, the outdoor attractions being a specific part of the ocean and a large pool."

"How do you know all this?" I wondered.

"Google," he responded plainly. "I looked it up after the interrogation."

"Thank gawd for Google," I decided.

Will nodded in response. "Shall we go?"

"Now?" I wondered.

Will shrugged. "We've done most all what we could have here. I guess I could say it's time for a vacation."

"What are we looking for there?" I asked.

"Get Thunder and Knight and we'll figure it out," Will instructed.

"In other words, you have no idea, do you?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"No, I'm not clueless, but I only have a very basic idea. I think between the four of us we can figure something out, though," he said.

I nodded, agreeing.

IT'S THE BAT CAVE!

Okay. Had to get that out of the way. I only realized it now, but the cave belonging to Eve and friends is like the bat cave. That was an accident, by the way xD I don't own Batman or pokemon. (If I owned pokemon, Unova would not exist.)

HOPE YOU ENJOYED!


	12. So Destroyed

Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

{SO DESTROYED [uxie] DEYORTSED OS}

I woke up on a couch in an unfamiliar room. There was a skylight above me, dark with the night's blanket.

"Ow," I whispered as I fully awakened and the pain started hammering at me. Where was I? Why had I fainted? It took me a few painful seconds to remember Jay and the trigger words.

"Are you alright?" asked a voice I'd heard before.

I forced myself to sit up. The face I recognized as Jaeson's had asked me. He was sitting cross-legged on an armchair, palms face-up on his knees. He'd been meditating.

"Considering the pain in my head, no, probably not," I told him.

"Do you recognize me?" he asked. Something inside me realized the emotionlessness of him to be normal.

"Yes, but I don't _know_ you. I know you're Jaeson, but I don't remember what or who you are," I told him. I rested back down on the couch, the pain getting worse.

"I see," he said, nodding a little. He must have been testing to see whether I'd remembered everything yet or not. "Your head is still hurting you?"

"Yes, it is," I told him. "What does the pain signify?"

"Your memories are reactivating," Jaeson explained. "You don't have any illnesses currently, do you?"

"Not that I'm aware of," I alerted him, then the pain took a huge jump and the dark blanket of the night covered me again.

{SO DESTROYED [uxie] DEYORTSED OS}

I woke up again to the gentle touch of sunlight through a window. Miraculously, my head didn't hurt anymore.

Without realizing it, I used an auric ability I barely realized I had. Jaeson was still in the armchair, meditating. He was in deep thought about the process. Jaeson was the tiniest bit confused over why I was not yet awake. Were his calculations wrong?

"No," I mumbled. "I'm awake."

"Only just, by the looks of it," he said. "You've remembered how to use your powers."

"Yeah, I have," I realized. Remembering random things about the mewtwo in front of me, I smiled. "How is it being Destiny's guardian?"

"Harder as she grows," he told me. "Love is a dangerous thing, you know."

"No one knows better than you do, Jaeson," I reminded him patiently. "I've never seen anyone so destroyed."

"I'm not sure what you mean," he said, and I realized how old his soul was and how long it had been since this occurrence.

You see, a long, long time ago Jaeson was very different. He had a wife and kids and a house and a wonderful life. But when they died and he remembered them into his next lives but they didn't him, he was totally devastated and vowed to never get close to anyone again. It's been so long since that has happened, he doesn't seem to remember who he used to be.

"You used to be so different," I explained. He didn't respond, so I continued. "You were a mix between Austin and Jay, actually, which might be why you three are such good friends." Still no answer. I kept going. "This meaning you were so happy and so... young. A little sarcastic, too, and very protective of your family."

"I don't remember this," Jaeson admitted. He was frowning, trying hard to find proof of this.

"I told you, you were devastated. So much, in fact, I think your mind blocked out most of that life so you wouldn't have to face it," I told him.

"Oh," Jaeson said simply, softly. He suddenly shook his head violently, reblocking the trickle of memories my words had sprung inside his head.

"You'll have to face them eventually," I reminded him softly.

Jaeson heaved a sigh. "I know, but not now. Are you better? You have obviously recovered your memories."

"Yes, much," I told him. Then, just because I knew it would serve as a painful reminder to him, I said, "It feels good to know who you are again."

"It must," Jaeson told me.

{SO DESTROYED [eve] DEYORTSED OS}

Thunder, Knight, Will and I sat in the conference room on the sixth floor, ready to figure out the next step.

"So what's your basic idea?" I asked Will after he'd filled Thunder and Knight in.

"Well, Pratt is actually a child in the teens named Kai Zair," Will began. He liked to list the facts first, which I liked about him. It made things easier to understand. "Going by this, he'd most likely need an adult guardian of some sort, no doubt working for him. That is, unless of course he can change his age."

"Um, excuse me, but how the hell would he do that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him and tapping my fingers on the table.

"The legends can. There's a chance he could as well," Will told me.

"Um, again, how?" I asked, sighing.

Will thought for a few minutes before saying, "You three don't really realize what he is, do you?"

"Apparently not," I said.

"To start, he successfully kidnapped Laek, and you three know how powerful he is," Will reminded us.

"Good point. Continue," I said, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms.

"This is also the guy who, with the help of a disbanded organization known as Zairon, managed to kidnap all the legendaries and seal them in a barrier he created himself," Will told us.

Knight sat up tall. He turned to me. In Russian (so Will might not understand us but he, Thunder and I could), he said, "Eve, the legends. _The__. __Legends__. _The most powerful beings on earth, trapped in _his_ barrier!" Knight exclaimed. "Not to mention what Laek is. Remember the DNA activated in him? Remember how it's called _the__legend__gene__?"_

"Da, I remember," I said sourly to him. Anyone but him and Thunder and I would have snapped back at them.

Accidently, Knight told Will in Russian, "It appears that I am the only one taking you seriously."

Will smiled and responded in the same language. He said, "It may not be so. Different people convert news into differing emotions."

"You speak Russian?" I asked, a little surprised.

Will smiled, the tiniest bit of mischief laced in his face. "I speak every language you'll find on Google's translator."

I swore.

"Eve," Knight sighed. "Stop swearing." I didn't respond to him.

"Anyway, he is what we are up against, and he is no doubt more advanced by now," Will continued. "We're going to have to go to the water park and hunt him down."

"Does he know where we are?" Knight asked, frowning.

"I don't believe so," Will told me. "We have no reason to, anyway. So, are you three in?"

Knight, Thunder and I meet gazes. Knight gives a nod, Thunder tips his head slightly, and so I say, "Yes."

Will smiled a real smile. It was warm, no ice crusting the edges of his lips. Something else I liked about him.

A rush if questions came to mind. Maybe Will really did want to help us. Maybe he wasn't just using us to help him get his friend back. Maybe he didn't only want our help because we'd never betray him for Pratt since we had our own big bone to pick with this guy.

_No__, _I told myself sternly. _This__is__what__happened__when__we__met__Pratt__, __and__look__where__we__are__now__._

_**Ah**__**, **__**ha**____**ha**__**! **__**So**__**! **__**They**____**know**____**Pratt**__**! **__**How**____**will**____**that**____**mean**____**anything**____**to**____**the**____**plot**__**? **__**You**__**'**__**ll**____**find**____**out**____**soon**____**enough**__**! :**__**D**_


	13. Recovered

AAAAH! Why did none of you TEEEEELLLLL MEEE? I MISSED A CHAPTER DARMN IT!

TELL ME THESE THINGS PLZ PLZ PLZ!

Chapter Thirteen

{RECOVERED [uxie] DEREVOCER}

"Now that we have Uxie all recovered, we should probably start looking for Pratt's reincarnate," Lily decided as we all gather in Jaeson and Destiny's living room.

"What about the Aura Stone? Jay and Austin have become fully functional, so we have to make a new one," I reminded them all.

Austin slapped a hand onto his chest. "Shit. No."

"You don't have the key?" Jaeson demanded.

"Oh, gawd, I never had it in this life," Austin realized.

"Where does it usually appear?" Destiny asked, her voice calm. She was the calmest out of us.

"In his birthplace," I explained. "Austin, where were you born?"

"In Florida, in a hotel called The Sea's Tree when my mother was on vacation," Austin said. "Why not in a hospital? I have no idea. So it's there somewhere?"

"Yes. It should be within a mile of the place," I told everyone.

"So, we're going on vacation," Lily gathered.

"It looks like it," I confirmed. "Get your bathing suits together, guys. Might as well have some fun while we're there."

Jaeson sighed, obviously dreading this.

{RECOVERED [austin] DEREVOCER}

We checked into the hotel, renting two rooms. One for Lily and I, the other for Jaeson, Destiny, and Jay. Uxie had ultimately decided she needed to wrap things up with her friends and family somehow, so she didn't come.

As Jay and the girls checked in, Jaeson and I stood a little behind them, looking at the aura and the thoughts of the people around us. I happened to look at the check-in counter a few feet away from us. A familiar orange head was there, a girl with brown hair, a boy with blue hair (lighter than mine), and a boy with yellow hair behind him. The girl was eyeing the place.

I nudged Jaeson and said, "Would Will and Laek remember everything?"

"Probably, why-" he started, then saw him.

Will finished. The lady behind the counter pointed them to the elevator behind us. Will looked past us to locate it for a moment, then smiled and came over to us.

"Jaeson, Austin, it's been a long time," Will said, smiling warmly.

"It has. How are you? Hope you haven't been destroying any psychic barriers without Laek," I said jokingly.

"Not yet," Will told me, smiling.

"When your memories returned, did it hurt?" Jaeson asked randomly.

"No, it didn't. They drifted back over the course of a week when I was eight or so," Will explained.

"How old are you?" Jaeson asked.

"Twenty-four," Will said.

Jaeson turned to me. "How old are you? And do you know how old Pratt's reincarnate is?"

"Um, I'm seventeen, and since he's older than me but wouldn't be in the orphanage if he was nineteen, he's eighteen," I told Jaeson.

"Hm," Jaeson responded, looking at the ground. "Tell Destiny to meet me at the rock." With that, Jaeson left.

"Okay, then. Where is Laek, anyway?" I wondered.

"He's been kidnapped," Will said, his smile vanishing. "By Pratt's reincarnate."

"I'm sorry... Are you looking for him here?" I wondered.

"For Pratt, yes," Will told me.

"Will!" the brown-haired girl hissed. "Why are you telling that to some random people?"

Will smiled again. "This is Eve. She and her friends Knight and Thunder are looking for him, too. And no, Eve, these are good friends of mine."

Eve stalked over here and said, "You said you haven't seen them for a long time. How do you know they're still loyal to you?"

"Clearly, some explaining is in order," Will said. "Can you come all with me, if you don't mind?"

At this moment Destiny, Jay, and Lily appeared. "Will, it's been awhile," Lily told him. "How are you?"

"I could be better," Will said. He briefly explained what was happening, and everyone agreed to follow him.

{RECOVERED [austin] DEREVOCER}

The boy with light blue hair came over and walked next to me as we started along the sandy beach just outside the hotel. He looked up and said, "You're a lucario."

"You're a riolu," I responded.

"Yeah," he said, then looked down at his feet.

"Do you have a question?" I wondered.

"... I-I do," he stammered, still looking down. "What... what is a Connection?"

"A Connection is a bond between two people made by the universe or the Aurastone's holder," I told him. "Usually by the universe. I've never heard of a time when a Connection was purposely made."

"What happens when you're a Connection?" the boy wondered quietly.

"Well, you force-morph," I told him. "That means your arm hurts for a while, then a light spirals along your arm, then you go numb. Lastly, you turn into a pokemon."

"Oh," he responded. "How do you stop it?"

"Knight, what are you doing?" Eve slowed her pace suddenly and fell into step with us.

"Getting information," Knight explained. "He knows a shitload more than we do about this."

Eve eyed me carefully before saying, "What does he know, exactly?"

"We're Connections," Knight said. "The light spiralling down our arms, the pain, the numbness. That's force-morphing."

Eve narrowed her eyes at the ground and crossed her arms before asking, "What happens after?"

I knew she was testing me. I responded, "You lose your powers for awhile. They kind of slowly trickle back to you."

Eve searched my face a moment before agreeing, "We're Connections."

"What does that mean relationship wise?" Knight asked.

"Absolutely nothing," I said, shrugging.

"Except that you two were born within six miles of each other," Jay said from behind us. I knew he must've teleported and wasn't surprised, but Eve whipped around, fists up.

"It's okay, Eve," Knight said. Jay smiled at her as she stared him down. Eve then turned and started walking normally.

"I'm going to find out where we're going," Eve decided. She briskly walked away.

After crossing my arms and chewing my tongue a moment in consideration, I said, "I feel like she and Jaeson are going to be best friends forever."

"Maybe," Jay agreed. He fell into step beside Knight and I, smiling.

"Who's Jaeson?" Knight asked.

"The one who's blocking his aura," I told him.

Frowning, Knight turned to Jay and said, "You?"

"No," Jay said. "The other one."

It was then that I had a terribly good idea. I sped up a little until I caught up with Jaeson and Eve, who were both trailing behind Will as he led the way. I smiled at Lily as I passed her.

"What's wrong?" Jaeson asked.

I twitched my arms since they were already crossed. "Why is something always wrong?"

"That's my life," Jaeson muttered. Eve glanced over for a split second. That told me she sympathized.

I pretended to look thoughtful for a moment. "Eve, Jaeson, I just wanted to tell you two that your auras are doppelgangers."

At the same time they both said, "And?"

I just grinned. Both rolled their eyes and looked away.

I fell back into step with Knight and Jay.

"So what's the Aurastone?" Knight asked.

"It's a blue piece of stone that the Yin and Yang make," I explained. "The Yin being Jay and the Yang being Jaeson. They put their power together and somehow make a stone. The Key is used to activate it. Once the stone's working, then Connections stop being randomly made."

"What's the Key?" Knight asked.

"What we're looking for at this place," I said.

"We're here," Will announced.

I looked around. We were at a deserted corner of the beach. There were dull, purple-red rocks forming walls that closed off two sides. The ocean, vast and blue and beautiful, endelssly crashed upon the yellow sand. I sent my aura out, reading the area. I noticed something with a very familiar aura.

"I found the key," I announced, and started walking towards the rock wall.

Suddenly, Jaeson yelled, "Austin! Stop!"

I sent my aura out again, more closely examining the area.

That's when I realized that there was more than one familiar thing I was sensing.

"There's a bomb!" I shouted.

"That's right," a voice confirmed.

We all whipped around to face none other than the devil himself.

"Pratt," I spat his name onto the ground.

The evil man smirked. "That would be me." He turned his gaze to Eve and said, "Eve. How nice to see you."

"F**ker!" Eve screeched. "I'll never forgive you!"

"Too bad," Pratt said, shrugging.

He snapped his fingers.

Jay suddenly teleported behind Eve and yanked her back. Something blew up just where she had been standing, sending both kids flying. Eve landed with a hard thud but popped right up again. Jay took his time standing.

"Die!" Lily yelled abruptly. She slashed her arms in an X formation, sending two waves of air smashing into him. I whipped up a more powerful aura sphere and threw it at him.

The moment the blue sphere bursted upon contacting Pratt, my head exploded in pain.

I yelled out in pain, then fell to my knees. I clutched my head.

_Hello__, __Austin__._

"Get out of my head!" I yelled. How had he gotten into my mind?

The world suddenly went dark. My friends disappeared and the sand turned to brown dirt. The beautiful sea turned into a murky existence and trees sprouted out of the ground.

The world shifted onto an angle, causing me to start sliding down and the ocean to pour out of its endless pool. The dark waters crashed down onto me, hitting like a thousand bricks.

I heard screaming, then.

Lily. Jay. Jaeson. Destiny. Even Will and his three friends.

Screaming loud and long and if they were dying.

_Those__screams__will__be__real__very__soon__._

_But__first__we__'__ll__have__to__add__yours__to__the__song__._

I felt a burst of sound explode from my lips.

{RECOVERED [jaeson] DEREVOCER}

"What the hell?" I demanded, watching Austin shake. "What's wrong with him?"

"Pratt has invaded his mind," Will said. "The only way to help is to have him invade someone else's mind."

"How do you know this?" Lily demanded.

"Why didn't you tell us this could happen?" Eve yelled.

"I didn't know he could do it," Will admitted. "I've only heard about it in legends. Apparently Fate had the ability before she lost her mind, therefore loosing others' as well."

I walked towards Austin, knowing how stupid this would be. Knowing Austin wouldn't be able to take it.

"Jaeson! Don't! He'll forcibly invade your mind!" Will called, warning me.

I put my hand on Austin's shoulder.

"It's not him you want, Pratt, it's me," I reminded the spirit quietly.

Austin screamed just as Pratt left his mind.

And exploded into mine.


	14. Like A Nightmare

Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen

{LIKE A NIGHTMARE [jaeson] ERAMTHGIN A EKIL}

The first two things that hit me were the pain and the darkness. The pain was like a dull throb, beating me in time with my heart. It was very bearable; I'd felt so, so much worse. The darkness was complete and cold and endless, very unlike that of dreaming. More like a nightmare.

_Jaeson__._

I felt myself blinking, again and again and again until the darkness slowly lifted like a fog. I was in my mewtwo form on an invisible panel edged with crimson. It reminded me a bit of that human movie, _Tron__, _or something of the like.

_Jaeson__... __They__need__you__, __you__know__..._

I frowned. On a habit I'd long ago taught myself, I clapped my paws together. Feeling their clamminess and hearing the loud clap made me remember that this was a dream brought on by Pratt. He wanted to take over my mind.

_Jaeson__... __Listen__to__their__screams__..._

Suddenly an ear-piercing caterwaul split through the air. The scene changed. The darkness let up until fake stars and a faker moon shone like holes through the black and I could make out that I was on a boat at sea. The waves were thrashing, harshly rocking the boat.

"Jaeson! Jaeson, help me!"

Hearing the familiar voice, I whipped around. I caught sight of my hand and realized I was human once more. I also realized I was not alone in this ship. There were several others, eerie white skeletons with cloaks hiding their bones. They crowded around a girl.

"Mary!"I gasped, recognizing the wife of my past. She looked different, yet somehow the same.

The skeletons laughed harshly. One grinding voice told me, "You can't save them both!"

"Jaeson!" Destiny's voice yelled.

Suddenly the ship grew much larger. I whipped around to see half-opaque spirits, like colored glass, holding Destiny by her arms. She kicked and screamed, not using her powers for some reason.

_This__is__a__dream__! __Destiny__would__be__using__her__abilities__! __She__isn__'__t__real__, __neither__of__them__are__!_ my mind reminded me. _Get__out__! __Break__free__!_

"Throw her! Throw her!"voices like glass shattering and rusty steel grinding filled my ears, their chanting shrieks making my body shake. They did not frighten my mind, but they did so my body.

Mary screamed and cried, tears flowing fast down her cheeks as they heaved her off the ship and into the tumbling waves. Something grabbed me and shoved me against the side of the ship, forcing me to watch as she struggled.

I couldn't move.

She froze in absolute terror as several sharpdeo appeared and started circling her. She broke out in a piercing cry as as one grabbed her leg. I was forced to watch, somehow rendered unable to close my eyes, as it ripped her leg off. Then the others advanced, eating her alive as she moaned and cried. Her blood and insides leaked out into the water, turning the green sea to a foreboding red.

_Give__up__, __Jaeson__._

_Or__Destiny__'__s__next__._

_Give__in__._

_Hurry__, __before__it__'__s__too__late__ . . ._

"Never!" I yelled. "I will not give in to you!"

As Mary's remains sunk down into the sea, the pain doubled. My body had stopped shaking from fear; now it shook from pain. Terrible, terrible pain . . .

_But__ . . . __I__ . . . __have__ . . . __felt__ . . . __worse_, I insisted to myself.

Whatever was holding me swung me around to face Destiny.

"Jaeson! Help me!"she cried.

"Use your powers!" I insisted.

"I can't! Help me!"she yelled.

"Then you truly are not real!"I shouted.

"What? How could you say such a thing . . . ? That's so terrible! You're a terrible person!"Destiny yelled.

Each word hit me like a thousand bullets, but I knew the words weren't real. They couldn't be.

{LIKE A NIGHTMARE [eve] ERAMTHGIN A EKIL}

"Jaeson!" the girl with white hair yelled. She rushed towards the guy with black hair and purple eyes. He was crouched on the ground, tiny bits of electricity occasionally flying down his body. I figured that the black-haired had them but not the blue-haired one because he was more powerful or something like that.

"No! Destiny, he'll invade your mind, too!" the smaller black-haired kid, Jay, yelled to his friend.

"I have to help him somehow," she insisted, her voice beginning to raise. "Someone tell me how to help him!"

"We can't do anything," Will told her gently. "It's his mind against Pratt's. If we hurt Pratt's body, we'll hurt Jaeson's, too, because Pratt's spirit is still grounded to his own body."

"We can't go into his mind and help him out?" Destiny demanded.

"No," Will said, shaking his head slowly. "I'm sorry."

"And what about Austin? Why isn't he waking up?" the redhead, Lily, asked. She was on her knees next to the blue-haired kid. Austin.

"He should soon," Jay told her. "He's exhausted right now, though. It's very energy-draining to have two souls in one body."

"Okay," Lily said, not looking very satisfied with the answer but accepting it all the same.

"The bomb." Thunder's quiet voice broke through into everyone's ears immediately.

"I've got it," I declared right away.

"You'll need me for the electronics," Thunder reminded me.

"And me for a visual," Knight said.

"Austin! Are you alright?" Lily yelled suddenly.

Austin sat up and shook his head as if to clear it and said, "Yeah. That was one hell of a nightmare, though."

"You're not drained?" Jay wondered, frowning.

"Not really," Austin said, shrugging.

Jay lowered his head. "Jeason is in deep trouble."

"May I remind you all that there's a bomb here?" I demanded.

"That's right," Austin said, standing. He pointed to the center of the rock. "It's embedded in the wall there."

"How do we get at it without blowing ourselves up?" Knight asked.

"I have no idea," Austin told him.

"I have one," I said, then carefully walked over. "How much time do we have?" I asked whoever was listening as I walked over.

Austin closed his eyes for a moment. "Twenty minutes or so. Pratt wants to take his precious time stealing Jaeson's mind." He looked a little peeved. I didn't blame him.

"Good," I responded, then felt the dark energy gather in my blood. I felt my eyes brighten from a dull brown to a... well, violent violet. It was a good feeling.

I placed my hand on the stone and tensed my fingers. Everyone except Knight and Thunder gasped as the black energy seemed from my hand and broke down the wall into sand. The wall melted away; the bomb was revealed.

"Let's get to work," I said. Thunder and Knight came to stand beside me, ready to help. I drew a black line around the circular piece of destruction and the plastic casing fell off. I stepped back and Thunder and Knight went forward. I felt my eyes fade back to brown.

Knight placed a hand on the circuitry and found where each wire went. He instructed Thunder what to pull out. Thunder placed a hand on the rock and pulled a blue wire. Electricity buzzed right through the pikachu morph and into the rock.

"Did you three do it?" Austin inquired.

". . . I have no clue," I eventually admitted.

"We disconnected the battery," Knight said. "I thought that would do it, but I still feel power in it."

"Let me see," Will decided. We moved out of the way as he investigated. He moved some wires around as he looked. Finally, he said, "Pull this yellow wire, Thunder. Everyone move back, this will be a big burst of electricity."

"Are there two power sources?" Thunder asked, frowning.

"Yes," Will said, nodding. "There's the one you disconnected, which is actually the back-up, and then there's the real one. The real one is hidden and disguised to look like something other than a battery."

"Okay," Thunder said, then took both shoes and socks off. He stood barefooted on the ground with one hand firmly planted on the wall. We all moved back, and he pulled the wire. Electricity rushed through him in a huge burst, but luckily it went straight through him and into the rocks and the ground.

"You're alright?" I asked him quietly.

"Yes," he said. He sat down and put his shoes back on.

"Now we did it," Knight decided. "There's no power emanating from it anymore."

Abruptly Destiny yelled, "Jaeson!"

Austin and Will darted back over, afraid for their friend. Knight, Thunder, and I continued to disassemble the bomb, letting them handle it.

{LIKE A NIGHTMARE [jaeson] ERAMTHGIN A EKIL}

The same force from before made me watch the ghostly beings throw my sister off the ship.

"Why didn't you believe in me . . . ?" Destiny asked, the most painful words that could have come out of her mouth. "I believed in you."

Then a sharpdeo bit her head off.

No! No!"I yelled. Then I got control of myself . . . just barely. "Pratt! you'll never take me! I know they aren't real!"

Then, with an enormous burst of energy, I opened my eyes. My physical eyes. I stared at the ground, deeply focused. I knew I heard Destiny's voice, but I ignored it.

_Get__. __Out__! _my mind roared, and after a burst of pain that I thought for half a second would kill me (because of such strong amounts of energy I was using to push him out), I felt Pratt leave my mind. For a full six minutes I sat rock-still in a painful crouch. (That pain was nothing compared to what I'd been feeling moments ago.)

Finally satisfied that he had left, I collapsed onto the ground.

"Jaeson!" Destiny gasped. She fell to her knees beside me.

She took my hand and checked my pulse, even though I said, "Destiny, Destiny, I'm alright."

"You're obviously not if you're lying here on the ground," Destiny reminded me. Knowing she was right, I didn't argue.

"Everything okay?" Austin asked, his sudden presence blaring in my mind. Will was behind him.

I must have flinched or something Destiny said, "What's wrong?"

In pain, I mumbled, "Sudden auras."

"Okay," she said. "Austin, Will, move back a few steps, okay?" I felt their auras move back. It didn't help at all, so I decided it wasn't the auras. I grimaced as the pain slightly got worse. Destiny noticed. "That wasn't it, was it?"

"No," I managed to say. I would've clutched at my head, but I was so exhausted . . .

"Pratt's moving!" Austin suddenly yelled. I sent my powers out, but as soon as I sensed him, he was gone.

"We'll finish this battle another day," I declared quietly, and blackness hit me.

_**Hope**____**you**____**enjoyed**__**!**_

_**Mwa**____**Ha**____**Ha**____**Ha**__**! **__**It**____**isn**__**'**__**t**____**over**____**yet**__**! **__**No**____**siree**__**! **__**You**____**all**____**may**____**want**____**to**____**read**____**over**____**the**____**last**____**chapter**____**of**____**Connections**____**again**__**. (**__**Shoot**__**. **__**Big**____**hint**____**right**____**there**__**.)**_


	15. Someone Else's Dream

So I meant to post this three hours ago. Then I asked my mother something serious and here we are three hours later. Yeah, well, it was a complicated question xD

ENJOY!

Chapter Fifteen

{SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM [austin] MAERD S'ESLE ENOEMOS}

For a small while, everyone was silent.

Jaeson had been won, but only barely. This beast of a man was horribly powerful.

Then Eve, Knight, and Thunder came over. Eve walked over to me and, opening her palm, revealed to me the Key.

"That's yours," she said.

"Thank you," I told her honestly. I took it from her and put the necklace on. The key was a bright blue, tie-dyed dog tag with a sword on one side and a yin-yang symbol on the other. I felt better for some reason; a space inside me was now filled that I hadn't even realized was empty.

"Yeah," she said, shrugging.

Just then Jaeson slowly sat up. Destiny helped him, placing a gentle hand on his back to keep him from collapsing. He turned his head to me, probably sensing the Key. "You have it," he observed. To my surprise, he didn't sound in pain or weak at all.

"I do," I agreed.

Jay stepped a tad closer. "We'll make the stone when you're fully recovered."

Jaeson closed his eyes for a moment, resting, before forcibly standing up. "We'll do it now before something bad happens to someone else," he decided.

Jay argued, "Jaeson, you don't have the energy. Do you know how powerful those pained waves you were giving off were? I could have sensed them halfway across the planet."

"Jay," Jaeson said. "I'm fine."

Jay gave him a sideways look for a moment before saying, "Okay. But we'll need to teleport or shield so we can't be seen."

"I can shield," Eve said.

{SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM [eve] MAERD S'ESLE ENOEMOS}

"You're an eevee," Jaeson said. I could tell from his tone of voice that he wasn't judging, merely observing. Maybe we did have some similarities.

"Yes," I said to Jaeson. I didn't think it mattered that I was an eevee, so I simply said, "I'll pull it up."

I stepped a few feet back. I felt the blackness surge in my hands and my eyes turn violet. I created a small spiky ball, looking for all the world like a child's star toy. I crushed two points beneath my fingers and threw it onto the ground. The shield encased us.

"Black magic," Jaeson said.

"Is that what this is called?" I asked, feeling my eyes fade back to brown.

"Yes," he responded. "It's a quite rare ability, and even more so a strong one. Be careful."

I watched his emotionless face for a moment before answering. I said, "I am and will continue to be. I appreciate the advice." I didn't quite know my power's capabilities, but I figured Jaeson might since he was a legend and things, so I headed his words.

Jaeson simply nodded.

"Shall we begin?" Austin asked.

"Yes," Jay and Jaeson said. They all three morphed into what I assumed to be their original forms: a lucario, a mewtwo, and a mew.

Austin, the lucario, stepped back as Jay (the mew) and Jaeson (the mewtwo) aligned themselves.

"On three," Jay said. "One... two... three!"

The moment the sound escaped his lips the two powerful pokemon blasted energy at the middle point between them.

And then it started.

My arm abruptly began to throb. Within moments the gray spiral of light started up and down my arm and I was tensing hard.

"Ah," Knight gasped quietly, painfully, and he began to glow.

I resisted it.

"Eve," I heard Austin call. "Let it take you. You'll get your powers back much faster that way, I promise."

_Should__I__trust__him__?_ I wondered. Only one was to find out.

I let it take me.

My body began to glow.

{SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM [austin] MAERD S'ESLE ENOEMOS}

Just as Eve fainted, Jay and Jaeson finished. Jay floated down onto the ground, tired, but Jaeson morphed and then fainted. Destiny, silent, was at his side in moments. Jay morphed, too, and walked forward. He picked up the stone and tossed it to me, then back away. I took my necklace off, put the stone on the ground, and dropped the Key. It hit the Aurastone, activating it, and threw me. I hit the barrier and landed on one knee, pain-free as usual.

"You alright?" Lily asked me, handing me my necklace. I put it on. Jay picked up the freshly-activated Aurastone.

"Yeah," I responded. "Is everyone else okay?"

"I'm fine," Jay said. "Just tired, nothing unusual. Jaeson's completely exhausted, Destiny's a little shell-shocked, Lily and you are fine, and Eve and Knight are knocked out. Actually, Knight should wake up soon considering he let the morphing take him right away. Thunder? Will? How are you two?"

"I'm fine," Will said.

"Feeling impatient," Thunder responded quietly.

"Ow," Knight muttered suddenly, still lying on the ground. He was a riolu. He stiffly sat up in a cross-legged position and Thunder morphed into a pikachu and went over to sit at his side. "Hey," Knight said. He put his hand to his forehead, propping his elbow on his knee and leaning his head on it.

I walked over to him and sat down, staying as a lucario. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. Eve's not," he said, his voice quiet.

"She isn't?" I wondered.

"Yeah. She takes a lot longer than me to get her powers back and things," Knight explained.

"That would be because of the black magic," Destiny said. I jumped at her voice, not expecting it. "The abilities clash with each other a little."

Knight stood up and walked over to the fainted eevee. He gently took her in his arms and walked back over. He sat back down next to Thunder and I. I sensed something... pink in him.

Catching my curious gaze, Knight blushed, knowing I could sense his love for the eevee. Thunder smiled broadly, obviously already knowing but now having proof.

"Don't tell her," Knight pleaded.

"Why would we do that?" I asked.

"I might," Thunder said.

"What?" Knight asked, fiercely blushing and looking appalled.

"Just trust me," Thunder said, smiling.

"Okay," Knight said, still looking very pale. With that Thunder, smirking a little, stood up, morphed into a human, and walked over to Destiny. Knight's arms slightly tightened around the eevee. Her brown fur was slightly lighter than most, I thought.

"Do you trust him?" I asked when Thunder was out of earshot.

"Yeah," Knight said. "I do, but I'm afraid this'll... ruin our relationship. I don't want to lose her, even if it means being only her friend forever."

I put a paw on his shoulder. "I know how you feel. I also know that this Thunder kid seems to know what he's doing."

"Do you think she likes me?" Knight asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I never stood close enough to her to pay attention to something that she is probably hiding from me as well as you, therefore putting in a deserted corner of her aura. I was thinking she was avoiding me because I could probably pick it up... maybe I was right."

"No. It's because Eve doesn't trust easily and tends to stick close to no one," Knight said, shaking his head. "Not that I blame her after what she's been through."

I looked to my right and whispered, "If you say so, kid."

{SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM [jaeson] MAERD S'ESLE ENOEMOS}

I wondered (in my human form) around in someone else's nighttime dream. I didn't really like ending up in other people's minds, mostly because I usually saw things I didn't want to. It wasn't so in this particular dream.

I ended up walking towards a cliff that looked out over the ocean. On the very edge was Eve, a human herself. She wore a long cloak that was a similar shade to the dark night sky we were standing under. Her hood was down, so I could see some wind that I didn't feel was blowing her short brown hair around.

"I was wondering whose dream this was," I said to her as I approached.

She whipped around, her solid face emotionless. "How?"

I shrugged. "It happens sometimes." It was then I realized that Austin was right. We were quite similar, which meant... "Austin was right, you know. We are fairly similar. I wish we weren't.

Something very bad must have happened to you. You're a young girl who doesn't talk much and is pretty rock-hard. Usually girls your age are the opposite."

Eve blinked. "What are you looking for me to say?"

"I'm not," I responded. "I'm just stating that something truly horrible must have happened to you to influence you to be this way. I know this from my own experience."

Eve turned back around to face the sea. "You know, I've always wondered what it would be like to confide in someone. I've always wondered whether it was easier or harder to tell someone you were unfamiliar with."

I was silent for a moment, curious as to where this was going. "I told Jay," I responded after a while. "He's been a therapist for his last few lives."

"I might tell you," she responded. "Will trusts you. You're obviously not on Pratt's side. Will you swear to me you won't tell another soul?"

"Of course," I said. "Though I'm not good on advice."

"I'm not looking for advice, I'm looking to swap stories. You first," she said, then turned around again to face me.

"In my first life as a mewtwo, I had a beautiful wife and two kids," I told her. "I had a family. A big one, too, since my parents were divorced. I had a lot of cousins and aunts and was never bored at any family event and looked forward to them."

"What happened?" Eve asked, crossing her arms.

"They died of old age. Every one. I was destroy, beyond so even," I told her. "I vowed to never make a friend again so I'd never have to feel that way. Later I met Jay, who'd had a similar experience. I still wonder why he didn't end up like I did."

"Cold and far?" Eve asked.

I nodded. "He's warm and near. I think he knew we were so opposite, too, and that's why he stayed with me. Even though half the first two lives I was trying to get away from him."

"Really," she said. "And you're still feeling the effects."

"It's easy to heat a stone, terribly hard to make it keep the warmth," I told her. I looked away, knowing I wasn't telling her everything. Not even close. Most of it I hadn't even told Jay and nor was I ready to.

"You also have to want to change," she said.

"That is correct," I agreed. "I'm not ready to change. Now it's your turn."

For a few moments, she looked back out at the cliff. Then she sat down. I walked forward until I could sit beside her.

"I trusted him," Eve began. "We were good friends since I was little. I knew that Knight and Thunder didn't much like him, but I thought that they might learn to. He wanted me to go off on a pokemon journey with him, but I said 'no.' I told him my parents wanted me to finish school. He killed them."

"How old are you now? Eighteen?" I asked.

She nodded. "This was... seven years ago. He was fifteen, I was eleven."

"A killer at fifteen," I said, observing.

"Yeah," Eve said, her words turning bitter. "He killed my parents and told me I could go now. I cried and said I hated him. He responded by killing Knight and Thunder's parents. We ran away after that, far away. As far as we could go. But despite our best efforts to hide away forever, two years ago he found us and almost killed us. Will and Laek stumbled upon our broken, knocked-out-cold bodies then and saved our lives. Then Pratt kidnapped Laek a few weeks ago. That bastard. He thinks he's helping me. What a psychopath."

I was silent for a long time. I sensed she was waiting for a reaction, so I said, "You know, Knight can determine how trustworthy people are. He probably didn't like him because he sensed bad things in his aura." It occurred to me that she was talking about Pratt's reincarnate.

"He can also determine if they're lying, what they're feeling, where they are, et cetera," Eve said, shrugging. "He's pretty amazing."

I sensed something... unexpected in her. I tilted my head a little, thinking.

Figuring out what I was thinking, Eve swore. "Damn it."

"Where does Thunder lie?" I asked, taking the conversation away from the pink emotion. I knew where one boy was, but the other's niche in her life I was not so certain about.

"He's my brother. Sometimes he's older, sometimes he's younger," Eve said, again shrugging. "What about this Destiny person?"

"She's about the same with me. Usually younger," I told her. "I'm her guardian."

"Guardian, huh? Why does she need a guardian?" Eve asked.

"She's an arcues," I said. "The queen of the universe."

"Ah," Eve said, nodding. "I see. Lots of people want her in their pokeballs."

Something else occurred to me then. "You're like a cookie jar, aren't you?" I said abruptly.

"That's the weirdest analogy I've ever heard," she said, raising her eyebrows and turning to look at me.

"You're hard as rock on the outside, but lift the top and you're full of soft sweets," I explained.

"Thanks, I think," she said, shrugging and turning to look back out over the ocean for a moment. I smiled a bit. She turned back to me and stared for a while. "I think you're a light bulb. Full of bright power, but not warm, not yet."

"Not yet?" I asked.

"You _can_be warm, like if you were a heat lamp light bulb," Eve explained. "Or you left it on long enough."

"I think you might be right," I told her.

"You think? Might?" she asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"Yes," I responded, then favored her with a small smile.

"I think it's time we wake up now," Eve decided after smiling herself. "But first, do you really trust the others?"

"With my life, yes," I told her.

Eve looked down at her lap, thinking. "Okay, thanks. Let's get up now."

I totally and utterly forgot about the events of this chapter. xD This has important things in it, though, so don't you forget!

Hope you enjoyed!

P.S. DAMN YOU, FFN, FOR TAKING AWAY FORMATTING! IT'S VERY VERY VERY ANNOYING! I'M SO ANGRY I'M NOT USING COMMAS! SEE WHAT YOU DO TO ME?


	16. Off The List

ENJOY!

Chapter Sixteen

{OFF THE LIST [eve] TSIL EHT FFO}

When I stirred (as an eevee), I woke up to the darkness of an unlit living room. I noticed, judging by the jeans, I was lying on someone's lap. I looked up to realize I was in Knight's lap. He was sleeping soundly, a small, soft smile curving his lips.

"He's been holding you since you fainted," a voice said. I looked over to my left see Destiny. She was sitting in an armchair next to a cot. Jaeson was on it, an IV running up his arm.

"Really?" I wondered.

"Yeah. Wouldn't even let Thunder hold you," she said, smiling. "He's been worrying himself sick. It's pretty cute."

"Yeah. That's my brother," I said. I was surprised how openly I was suddenly able to talk. Maybe I did value Jaeson and Wills' words.

"You know," destiny mused, "I think you both want to be something... closer." With that she smiled, stood, then walked out.

I noticed Knight had started shivering. The smile on his face had disappeared, and I realized he was having nightmares again.

I morphed into a human and awkwardly scooted out of his lap. I kind of wanted to wake him up as an eevee and just go back to sleep in his lap, but I didn't. I shook him a little.

Knight jumped. "Are you okay?" he asked me, looking a little frightened.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said gently. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he insisted, calming down.

"Did you have a nightmare?" I asked.

"Yeah," he responded, looking down at the floor sadly. I scooted closer to him and hugged him. I felt his tense muscles relax. Mine did, too, but subtly, as he wrapped his arms around me. "It was terrible."

"What happened?" I asked, turning my head to look up at him.

Knight looked away, biting his lip. "I-I... I lost you."

"Me? What about Thunder?" I wondered. I released him and took his hand.

"It would... hurt just as much to lose him, but in a different way," he said. He looked away again. "Thunder is my best friend and my brother. You... I mean, you're my best friend, too, but I..." Knight looked back at me again, his eyes sad but so, so hopeful. "I love you." He immediately looked away again and started nervously babbling apologies.

I scooted closer until our thighs touched. Knight stopped his babbling and looked at me. I took his head in my hands and kissed his lips. They were soft and smooth and fit perfectly on mine. Kissing wasn't gross and wet and all that crap that I had expected, but it was... nice. Let's just say I could see why people liked it.

(That was so, so girly. I think I might barf later.)

Knight wrapped his arms around the small of my back, pulling me closer. I had my arms around his neck.

When our lips parted, I leaned my head on his shoulder. We were in blissful silence for a long time before Knight asked, "You didn't do that just because you felt bad for me, right?"

I kissed him again, saying the words "not a chance" onto his lips. I pulled away again and put my head back on his shoulder. Man, I was tired.

"That makes me happier than you'd know," he whispered.

"I'm so glad," I whispered.

For the rest of the night, I was possibly happier than I'd been in a long, long time.

Both my closest friends were in the same little apartment (I fell asleep in the arms of one) and I was surrounded by strong people I trusted. The only three things that would have made me happier were if Jaeson was awake, Laek wasn't still kidnapped, and Pratt was gone forever.

I was still so, so happy.

And soon enough the three things on my list would be completed.

It would be like a checklist.

Check. Friend cured.

Check. Friend rescued.

Check.

One more enemy

off

the list.

{OFF THE LIST [destiny] TSIL EHT FFO}

My phone buzzed on my desk. It hadn't woken me up; I had just gotten into bed from talking with Eve.

I clicked on the lamp next to me and looked at the screen. It was Felix texting me.

"Are you still awake?" the phone's screen wondered.

"Yes," I texted back. "How'd you know?"

"I didn't," he responded. "Just had a feeling. You were already awake, right?"

"Yes," my fingers replied.

"You missed book club today," he reminded me. I smacked my forehead, not remembering to call him and pretend I was sick. "Are you okay?"

"I could be better," I admitted through the phone. "Jaeson got hurt. I'd almost take him to a hospital."

"I'm a medic, you know," Felix reminded me. "I'll come over if you want."

"No, it's okay, he doesn't need it. Really he's just exhausted," I texted. I turned away from the screen briefly and muttered, "Really, really, really exhausted."

"I didn't just mean if he needed help, I also meant if you needed me," Felix said, and my heart warmed.

"It's okay," I said. "I'm pretty good."

"You can come over," he continued.

"Thanks, but I'd rather just stay here," I decided.

"Okay," he said.

"We can have book club now if you want," I told him.

"Sounds great," he said, then put a little smiley face. We talked on through the night.

Hello, everyone! So, I'dpostmoreoften, buta.) Ikeepbloodyforgetting (face-palmseveraltimes) andb.) I'vegotsomeprettybadwriter'sblock...

Thatbastard. He'sback.

*Holdsfistinairandmakesanextremelyannoyedface* Screwyou, WriterS. Block...!

Hopeyouenjoyed :)


	17. Fathom

I thought I posted through chapter twenty already xD Yeah, so, a couple chapters will in fact be up today. SORRY.

ENJOY!

Chapter Seventeen

{FATHOM [jaeson] MOHTAF}

When I woke up, I sensed it was around noon. Someone was holding my wrist, and I could tell it wasn't Destiny. Too tired to send out my aura, I managed to whisper, "Who's touching me?"

My hand was immediately dropped and a voice gasped, "Sorry! I was checking your pulse. Your breathing is awfully slow." It was Felix. I remembered something about him being in the medical field.

"S'alright," I said, my voice too tired to enunciate properly. "I'm exhausted."

"I can see," Destiny's voice said gently. I felt her put her hand on my forehead. I opened my eyes and saw how worried she looked. "I think you've got a fever."

"I'm okay," I mumbled.

"We'll see in a few minutes. I took a blood test while you were asleep," Felix explained.

"I see darkness around him," I heard Knight's voice abruptly drift over my ears. Judging by the faraway sound it made, I guessed he was on the opposite side of the room. I also guessed he was talking about me.

"Who's he?" Felix asked in a quiet voice.

"That's Knight. He's got abilities like Austin," Destiny explained.

"Thanks," Felix said quietly, thanking his girlfriend for the information, then louder: "What does that mean?"

"Nothing good," Knight said. "Pratt left some mind poison."

{FATHOM [destiny] MOHTAF}

"Not again!" Jaeson breathed in a sudden terribly ragged breath. He then fainted and started shaking hard.

"Felix, what's happening?" I demanded, almost shouting.

"I-I don't know!" Felix gasped.

"Knight, toss me a phone!" I instructed. Knight disappeared for one long moment before returning into view and throwing me a cordless landline phone. I dialed Austin.

"Austin! Help!" I yelled quickly into his unfortunate ear as he picked up. "Jaeson's sick and has a fever and someone said something about poison and he fainted and-"

"He probably fainted because Fate poisoned him to death after the Battle of Being. I guess Pratt left him some mind poison, too," Austin explained.

"Oh, no, oh, no, no, no! He's going to DIE?" I screamed.

"No! Destiny, calm down, we can-"

"I'm not going to calm down! Austin, MY BROTHER IS GOING TO DIE!" I screeched.

"He's not going to die! We can-"

"You just said he was-"

"I said he DID. That was FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO!" Austin said. "I'm sure technology-"

"We haven't even cured cancer yet! How the hell are we going to cure MIND POISON!?" I demanded, screaming still.

"I'm sure there's a way-" Austin started.

"BUT THERE ISN'T!" I yelled.

"Destiny, calm-"

"IF YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN ONE MORE TIME I MIGHT HURT YOU," I decided.

Austin sighed into the phone.

"Are you sighing at-"

"Destiny, I'm calling Uxie and I'll see you in ten minutes!" Austin said, then hung up.

While Austin called Uxie, I went into the kitchen and banged my head on the counter for a while, not wanting to even go near fathoming life without my brother.

{FATHOM [austin] MOHTAF}

Uxie, Jay, Lily, Destiny, Felix, Eve, Knight, Thunder, Will, and I sat on the couches and on the floor, Jaeson's cot looming next to us.

We were all visibly depressed, but none more so than Destiny. She looked so sad yet so angry yet so expressionless. Her eyes were set on her feet, dangling limply from the couch. Felix sat next to her, holding her hand. I felt kinda bad for him; he probably had no idea what was going on.

"Well," Uxie said, sighing, "We have two options. One, we can experiment with Will and Laeks' abilities. That wouldn't work because Laek isn't here and either way it would probably do more bad than good."

"What's the second option?" I asked as no one responded.

"We somehow find and trigger the memories of the Tao duo. They-" Uxie started.

"The _who__?" _I asked.

"The Tao duo. Zekrom and Reshiram?" Uxie tried again.

"Not ringing any bells," I said.

"You'll meet them eventually," Uxie sighed. "Anyway, the Tao duo and the Mew duo have a special kind of link called a Catena. No, Austin, it isn't like a Connection. A Catena is not random, like a Connection usually is."

"Well, what is it?" I asked.

"It's that they're both yin-and-yang duos," Uxie explained. "That's what Tao means, by the way. This connects the four, not with a capital C, in that they share and clash a little. It's quite hard to explain and will be easier when they're here."

I stood up, excited and invigorated at the possible chance to save my friend. "Okay! Now someone tell me what their auras look like! And Jay, will you extend my ability, please?"

(May I remind you all this is TOTALLY fictitious and we will probably be curing cancer within the next few generations, I do believe?)

Hope you enjoyed!


	18. Creeper

Sasha The Espeon created Rafe and Ultimate Jelly Sandwich is the crator of Maya. G THANK THEM!

ENJOY!

Chapter Eighteen

{CREEPER [?] REPEERC}

Rafe (Rayf) and I walked down the seemingly endless, boring sandy path that would eventually lead to Chicago. He and I met a few days ago at the pokemon center in a midgety town called New Port. I'm originally from New York but am on a journey to see the sights of America. Unfortunately, I don't have a car. Neither does Rafe. That meant walking or train. Again with the unfortunateness, the train only goes so far.

"What's in Chicago?" I asked Rafe. I hadn't asked him before and I was bored, so why not?

Rafe thought for a moment. "Information, I hope."

"What kind?" I asked next.

Rafe stared hard at the ground. I wondered what he was thinking. "Stuff," he said finally. "What about you?"

"I-" I started, but then something fast flew right past the top of my line of sight. I followed it and it landed on a telephone wire. "It's a shiny hoothoot!" I gasped.

"It is!" Rafe said excitedly, his eyes bright.

The hoothoot cocked its head at us a moment before flying down and landing in front of me. I slowly bent down and petted it. "Hi!" I said happily.

With a flash of light, the hoothoot turned into a human. I gasped, jumped up, and tried to back up but the man grabbed my wrist.

He smirked. "Hello, my pretty."

"CREEPER!" I screamed.

"It's so nice that you two decided to walk together out here in the open," the man continued.

I yanked my arm out of his grasp and ran as fast as I could in the way of the big city. Suddenly he appeared in front of me, snickering.

"Oh, you can't get away that easily," he alerted me.

"W-who are you? W-what are you?" I asked, trying and failing to sound demanding.

"I am the reincarnation of John Pratt. I am a hoothoot morph and soon to be your killer," he smirked.

Yeah. Well, I screamed.

I tried to bring up my arm to hit him, but I suddenly found that I couldn't move. He reached forward and took my wrist in his hand again.

"Maya! Do something!" Rafe shouted.

"I can't, I'm paralyzed! Help me!" I yelled.

"Better say your goodbyes," the evil man said.

Suddenly, a green ball of energy hit him hard, throwing him to the ground. I ran back over to Rafe.

"You!" Pratt yelled, pointing a finger at a tree, his other hand a fist at his side. His face was contorted and bright red in rage.

Then a girl with short brown hair and anger in her eyes jumped down from a tree on the opposite side. She ran up to him and yelled, "Wrong tree, ya bastard!" When he turned around she took a step forward and punched him in the face.

Just then a boy with blue hair jumped down from the tree Pratt had been pointing at. His eyes were wide with worry. He yelled, "Eve! Get out of there!"

"Not yet!" the girl decided in a shout. Pratt opened a hand, purple lines forming between his fingers. The girl's right hand lit with black energy and she grabbed his hand, closing it like a muzzle would a dog's mouth.

Pratt responded by grabbing her shoulder with his other hand.

"NO!" the kid with blue hair yelled. He gathered the same green energy in his one hand and threw it just as Pratt and the girl teleported. The energy ball hit the ground, blowing up a huge chunk of the dirt.

"Wicked," I whispered, smiling a little in amazement. "Where can I get me some of _that__?"_

The kid with blue hair ran to the spot the pair had just been. "No! No, no, no..." he said, sadness catching more of each word as his mood sank. He grabbed his head. "It's all my fault..."

"Austin," someone said. Just then I noticed a girl had appeared. She had white hair and a weird vibe to her, like she knew so much but realized it was so little. Or she knew the meaning of life or something.

The blue-haired kid turned to her. "Destiny-"

The girl with white hair put her hand up.

Austin frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. "What?"

"If you tell me that I should go home because it's dangerous, I will kill you," she said very seriously.

Austin put his hands up, gave her a sideways look, and took one big step back. Still frowning a little, he said carefully, "I wasn't, Destiny. I was going to tell you that he got Eve."

Destiny's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open from shock for a moment, then she quickly set her jaw and closed her eyes, regaining control over herself. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Though previously a pretty grey, they had turned a blacker red. Destiny said in a monotone, dark voice, "The reincarnate of John Pratt will die a thousand painful, bloody, and devastatingly lonely deaths."

"Destiny," Austin said swiftly, a little mock-sternly. "There are children here!"

The girl shook her head violently. She opened her eyes, grey once more. "Sorry," she said. Destiny turned to look at us. "I'm very sorry you two had to see those things."

"Yeah, about that," I said. "What in hell was it all?"

"That would be Pratt trying to kill you," Austin said.

"But why?" I demanded.

"What did we do to him?" Rafe asked.

"Exist," Austin snorted. He crossed his arms and looked away, apparently angry at this Pratt person. Heck, I was, too.

"You two are legendary morphs," Destiny explained. "And have the power to heal a friend of mine. He wants that friend dead, so therefore you two as well."

"How did you know that?" Rafe asked disbelievingly, then clapped a hand over his mouth. His eyes widened in shock with himself.

"Because I'm an arceus," Destiny stated plainly. "And Austin here is a lucario. He would be able to sense you two if I didn't already know."

My mind drifted back to the painful transition into the huge pokemon, the reason I had finally left home in the first place. Not sure what to do, I tested them. "What am I?" I asked.

"You're a reshiram, which is a big white pokemon with wings and fire abilities," Destiny explained. She turned to Rafe and said, "You're a zekrom, which is a big black pokemon with electric abilities."

"So that's what I'm called," I muttered to myself.

"Now what?" Rafe asked. He turned to me and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm not entirely sure I want to go to Chicago right now."

"Me neither," I agreed.

"Okay," Destiny said. "I should tell you. You guys both have memories that you can't recover. That man did something to you before you were reborn to cause that. Austin and I can help you recover them, but it won't feel terribly good."

"Well, what else are we going to do?" I asked, mostly wondering it to myself. Rafe agreed with a nod.

"Uh, do you know any possible word triggers?" Austin asked his friend.

"About that," Destiny began. "I was talking with Uxie and there may be another way to trigger memories. Words are heard by your ears collecting sound waves and translating them, right? Well, those sound waves influence your aura as well. We did an experiment and figured that there was a specific auric color combination that would act as the word trigger. Give me your hand."

Austin walked over to her and surrendered his arm. She took his wrist with one hand and held the other hand over his palm. After closing his eyes and focusing a moment, Austin said, "Got it."

"Good," Destiny said, pulling away."Now. Make two tiny aura spheres- harmless ones- and put it in each of their hands."

Austin focused for another moment before two multicolored, marble-sized balls of energy appeared at his fingertips. He walked over and guided one into each of his palms.

"What do I do?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I've never done this before."

I would have sweat-dropped. "That's so comforting."

Austin, not appearing to hear my muttering, said, "Destiny?"

"Touch it," the white-haired girl instructed.

With a last glance at Rafe, who looked intrigued at all this, I gently laid the tip of my finger upon the sphere's glowing surface.

Pain abrupt as a lightning strike hit my head. I collapsed onto the ground, blackness hitting immediately.

Hello, children! There (above) is chapter eighteen. Can Maya and Rafe recover their memories and save Jaeson? What happens if they don't? What about Eve? What if she's DEAD? What possible significance can she have to this story? What- *Everybody clicks away, tired of my random questions*

Hope you enjoyed!


	19. Drifting Downwards

I literally HATE YOUTUBE.

Or the users, at least.

I mean, I was listening to some lyric videos. I scrolled down to the comments and people were making fun of this girl. I was like, "Hey guys, let's just enjoy the music, shall we?" AND PEOPLE DOWN-VOTED ME. WTF! I wasn't expecting UP votes, but SERIOUSLY? F*** YOU, YOUTUBE USERS WHO ARE ABUSERS. F*** YOU.

(Not all youtube users. Just those who are bullies on youtube. I hate bullies.)

BECAUSE. JUST. SERIOUSLY?

Anyway...

ENJOY!

Chapter Nineteen

{DRIFTING DOWNWARDS [knight] SDRAWNWOD GNITFIRD}

I stood on the edge of the random building, looking down.

I was where I was most comfortable, high up in my riolu form at the dead of the night, the sky dark blue with all the stars covered by clouds. The dim form of the moon showed through, giving me a pale light to see by.

"You bastard!" I suddenly shouted, yelling at an imaginary Pratt. "Why us? Why her? Why Thunder? Why me?" I screamed on and on. "Are we just pawns in your little game? No, I bet we aren't even part of your desired picture. We're just some small checkerboard being played on beside your big game of chess. A simple break from your complicated game. We're just your toys, aren't we?"

I fell silent and stared down at the cars racing around below. I wouldn't jump. I couldn't leave Thunder and Eve.

"Gosh, you need me right now, Eve!" I yelled with the sudden realization. "Why are we not doing anything? Why can't Thunder and I just go out and look for you!?" I felt a tear slip down my cheek. I breathed in hard through my nose. I sniffled.

Having sufficiently and unthinkingly mentally beat myself, I whispered one final thought, shaking my head sadly.

"Oh, why us, why us?"

{DRIFTING DOWNWARDS [eve] SDRAWNWOD GNITFIRD}

"Hello, Eve."

The moment I woke up I sprang up and threw an X-scissor-like attack at Pratt. (Really it was my black magic.) But of course, I was trapped in a little gray cell behind metal bars. My attack did next to nothing to help me.

Pratt stood outside, his arms crossed behind his back. He was snickering. "Oh, Eve. I hate that you wrinkle your beautiful face with anger."

"Well, I hate you!" I shouted.

Pratt shook his head. "Not for long. I'm doing you a favor, you know, like I always have been trying to do. Tell her, Laek."

"F**k you! All you've ever done is hurt me! I-" I began as he started walking away.

Then the last word he'd said sunk in.

I whipped around. "Laek?"

"Hi, Eve," a small jolteon in the corner said.

I rushed over to him and fell to my knees at his side. I was so surprised I was speechless. Laek used to be fit and strong, but now he was terribly weak-looking and too thin to be healthy. Pratt must have been starving him... "Laek..."

"It's okay, Eve," he whispered, then coughed.

"You're not okay," I argued.

"I didn't say I was okay. I'm not," he agreed. "I'm so low on energy I have morphed into my original form so I would use less energy to breathe and things."

"IT isn't okay, either," I said.

"It will be," Laek said weakly. "I'm not going to make it, but you will. You're strong, Eve. Never, ever give in to him, okay?" I nodded and he fainted, smiling.

I couldn't believe it. He was dying. Even worse, a tear slipped down my cheek. How could I cry? I didn't trust him, I-

F**k.

I did trust him.

And now that I realized it, I realized that he and Will were like family to me, almost as close as Knight and Thunder were. When had I started trusting them?

I moved into a cross-legged position and wrapped my arms around Laek. I put him gently in my lap and watched him sleep, hoping his chest would keep moving up and down.

Lastly, I hung my head in defeat, knowing it was now my responsibility to get him out of here. Knowing that it was nearly impossible to keep him alive.

aUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello, everyone! Sorry about the rant, but, well, yeah.

Hope you enjoyed despite it!


	20. There Is

I recently (recently as in when I actually wrote this quite a while ago) received some advice to stick to one perspective per chapter. I've actually heard more than one complaint about the subject, so I'll be limiting to one per chapter unless there are two action scenes going on at once.

ALSO, THERE IS AN INTERVIEW WITH AUSTIN'S WOULD-BE ACTOR UP IN THINGS THAT GET CUT OUT.

Chapter Twenty

{THERE IS [maya] SI EREHT}

{THERE IS [a few hours later] SI EREHT}

I groaned as I woke up the next morning. I hated mornings, especially those at the pokemon centers. I hated getting out of my warm bed, hated not being hungry enough to eat anything and then starving my ass off later when I was walking in the middle of nowhere.

I laughed when I remembered who I was. I thought since I was a legendary pokemon I'd never ever have to repeat that cycle ever again.

I sat up, my eyes closed, then frowned as my head didn't hit the bunk above me like usual.

"Where the f*** am I?" I demanded as I rubbed open my eyes and realized that I was in someone's living room. I had been sleeping with a heavy blanket on a couch.

"You've got one foul mouth, young lady," I heard a voice say.

"Lily, she's probably older than you," another, a more masculine one, reminded the other.

"Whatever," the first voice, apparently Lily, said. I looked around and decided the open door to my left (or if you're facing what looked like the front door it's right) was the location of the voices. I moved my head until I could see inside. The girl, Lily, had red hair and the guy blue.

"Why are you so angry?" the second voice asked, sounding soft with concern.

"I'm not angry," the girl countered, evidently trying to sound calm.

"Lily," the man sighed, "I've not only known you for several lives but can sense your emotions."

"Okay, I'm angry. My good friend is dying, so why wouldn't I be?" Lily asked, her voice turning sad and quiet.

"That would be one of the points of rescuing her," the guy said, nodding towards me. I was about to pipe in that I was awake, but he appeared out of the room and asked me, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Maya," I said.

The blue-haired boy smiled. "I'm Austin." He held out his hand and I shook it, then let go, our arms dropping to our sides.

I gasped, the name instantly sparking memories of legends. "You're the Key holder."

"That I am," he agreed.

"And Lily," I said, remembering, "your wife, is the Singer of Wind."

"What am I?" she called, and the sound of water pouring from a faucet began.

"How long have you been in the Americas?" I asked. "Don't you know that's what you're called in Asian countries?"

"I've been here for close to seven lives," Lily called over.

"No wonder you don't remember," I said to myself. Then a sudden thought hit me. "Where's Rafe?"

"Over here," his voice said, and I turned to see my friend, the zekrom, in his human form, like the rest of us. He came over and sat next to me. Both of us, I realized upon looking at him, were in our same clothes as yesterday. He looked up at Austin and asked, "So why did you save us?"

"First of all because it's the right thing to do," Austin began. "And second because Jaeson is dying from some type of mind poison."

I met worried gazes with Rafe. We both remembered the way to fix this, but neither was looking forward to it.

"Is there a way?" Austin demanded, his body suddenly tense with dread. His gaze was intent and pleading.

"There is," I said. "Though it involves the three of us and Jay invading his mind."

"I've done it once, I can do it again," Austin decided. "Let's go now."

"What about me?" Lily asked. The faucet turned off and she walked over and stood next to Austin.

"I'm afraid you can't," I said. "Only an empath can. I know of only one who isn't an aura-seeing creature. His name is Will Riverside."

"I figured," Austin said to himself. "That means I'm an empath?"

"Yes," I nodded. "Lily, your ability isn't prominent enough to be considered one. I'm sorry."

"That's alright," Lily said, nodding. "I'm not particularly interested in the depths of Jaeson's mind anyway."

"What about during the battle of Being?" Austin questioned. "Myles, Avalon, Gekido, and Sasha and I were all in Fate's mind. Are they all empaths?"

"No. Fate was a powerful being, powerful enough to break that rule," I explained. I noticed Rafe looking down at his shoes and wondered what that was about. "There are exceptions a lot. Rafe and I aren't empaths, but we can put ourselves and empaths into others' minds."

"Okay," Austin said. He blinked, possibly trying to get this all through his mind. "What are we doing once we're there?"

"That's what I was wondering," Rafe said. "We've known how to do this but never had before. I believe we must help him fight his inner demons. Fighting those demons helps him gain the strength he needs to get the poison out of his mind. In the end all we can do is aid, not cure."

"Mm," Austin decided, nodding and biting his lip.

A silence formed between us as we all dreaded what we were about to have to do.

"Let's go now," Lily said quietly.

Austin gave her a hug and a kiss then turned to us. "Ready?" he wondered. Rafe and I stood, preparing.

This was bound to be... interesting.

Author's Note:

Short chapter, I know. Hope you all liked it anyway!


	21. Into The Urban Jungle

Enjoy! That's all :)

Chapter 21

{INTO THE URBAN JUNGLE [austin] ELGNUJ NABRU EHT OTNI}

The four of us arrived at Destiny and Jaeson's apartment a few minutes later. I knocked and then Destiny let us in, looking a little grim.

"Hey, Felix," I said upon entering and seeing him. He was reading Jaeson's pulse, his wrist in his hand.

Felix jumped. He turned slightly to look at me and said, "Hello." He didn't seem too happy, either.

"Is he alright?" I asked, turning grim myself.

"His condition has worsened," Destiny said quietly.

Maya pushed past us and stood on Jaeson's other side. She put a hand on his forehead and gasped. "He's fighting as hard as he can, but he's weakening fast."

"What do we do?" Destiny demanded, tensing in fear. Her eyes opened wide with the same emotion.

"We need to ask fast," Rafe said. "Maya, Austin, Jay, and I will go in and help him."

"In where?" asked Uxie's voice. We all whipped around to face her. She was in the head of the hallway. She walked forward and came to stand next to Lily and I.

"Jaeson's condition is not good," Maya explained. "We're going into his mind. Now."

"Take Destiny," Uxie said.

"She's not an empath," Maya said, frowning. She turned to Destiny. "Are you?"

"No, but she's the queen of the universe," Uxie said. "She can go with you. Trust me."

"Okay," Maya said reluctantly.

"You two may be rejected, though," Uxie warned Maya and Rafe.

"What do you mean?" Rafe asked.

"I mean, Jaeson's mind is incredibly strong and he may not accept your presence," Uxie said.

"How will they get out without us?" Rafe wondered.

Uxie bit her lip. "They'll have to help him until he's better enough to fight on his own. Then he'll eject them from his mind. I must warn you: this will be dangerous. You may never come out again if he dies."

"That's okay," Austin nodded. Lily bit her lip, but didn't comment. "First we should probably get Jay over here."

Destiny face-palmed, mostly out of nervousness. "Yeah. It might be easier to bring Jay over here if we're going to take Jay into Jaeson's mind."

"Yup," Austin agreed, nodding.

With a flash of light, Jay appeared, grimness taking over his expression and aura. He must have heard us talking about him.

"Just in time," I said, smiling. "We're going into Jaeson's mind."

"Tell me the details," Jay said, and Destiny explained.

"Ready?" Maya wondered after Jay was satisfied with the information.

"What about Eve?" I realized abruptly. "We have to save her!"

"We will," Destiny said, nodding. "In someone's mind, time is much faster. It's like a dream in that each hour in there is actually less than a second out here. That's why the poison kills so fast; it works at a dream's pace."

"Okay, then," I said, accepting this with a nod. "Let's do it!"

Rafe and Maya took my hand, Jay's, and Destiny's. They then whispered in a different language, running through ancient lyrics of the song that could save Jaeson.

With a flash of light we vanished from the room and appeared in the middle of a tiny town. A vague memory of a picture of a twentieth century suburb came into mind. I wondered where we were.

"I recognize this place," Jay said, stepping away from our small group. "This was... the life before you, Austin."

"What are we doing here?" I wondered.

"This is a location Jaeson's recent memory?" Maya asked, looking worried.

"Yes," Jay nodded. "Just a few lives ago."

"Oh, no," Maya said.

"The poison usually starts from the end, jumps to the beginning and then corrupts one memory at a time from there," Rafe explained. "When the last memory is corrupted, Jaeson will die."

"Oh, no," I echoed. "We have to go fast, then."

"Yes," Jay said, nodding.

"You two are fading," Destiny said, frowning at Rafe and Maya.

"Jaeson's mind doesn't like us, I guess," Maya sighed.

"Like Uxie said," Rafe agreed. "Good luck, guys..." With that the two disappeared.

"Where do we start?" I asked.

"Where the corruption does," Jay answered. "We're fighting his inner demons, right? Well, I remember specifically which one this was."

"What?" I asked.

"His parents rejected him, like usual, but this time he had a sister," Jay told Destiny and I.

"What did the sister have to do with it?" Destiny asked.

"The sister was Mary, the love of his first life," Jay said. He hung his head in sorrow for his friend. "She claimed to hate him more than words could say."

"Ooh," I said, flinching. "That hurts."

"More than you know," Jay said, shaking his head in sadness.

"So where do we go to... stop this?" Destiny asked.

"His demon was loneliness, not his parents or Mary's reincarnate," Jay said. "He had me, but he still felt isolated. This is where he began to drift away from me. He felt that he'd lose me, too, eventually, and couldn't bear the thought. But instead of trying to make more memories to last, he started becoming... who he is now in order to lessen the blow that he thought was inevitable."

"So what do we do?" I asked again.

"We fight the demon," Jay said. "I had been watching his nightmares, and it seems the poison turns his fears into actual monsters that he literally cannot defeat by himself. That's where we come in."

"Okay," Destiny said.

"I'm going to say it again: what do we do?" I repeated.

"We find Jaeson and watch him until we fight," Jay said. "And I think I know where he is."

aUTHOR'S nOTE:

So, children! We are now entering Jaeson's mind. Please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times, and of course keep your seat belt buckled. It's going to be a bumpy ride...

Hope you enjoyed!


	22. Alone And Shamed

*Sigh tiredly* This chapter... I don't like it.

Chapter 22

{ALONE AND SHAMED [austin] DEMAHS DNA ENOLA}

Jay led us through the town until we reached a small building. The windows on the place looked a bit grubby, the red bricks had faded, and the lights looked dim. I could tell Jay didn't like it by the way tension rattled through him and tensed his muscles (and his aura) as we drew closer. I didn't like it, either. The emotions there were all negative.

Anyway, the three of us walked into the old bar and sat at the back. I found Jaeson at the front and nodded to him.

"Jaeson had a drinking problem?" Destiny wondered, watching him drink some clearish liquid.

"Not a problem," Jay said. "He just liked it here. A lot of lonely people came here and Jaeson could freely just let himself feel lonely. Not that he knew I knew this. I hated this place then, and I still do. I hated how sad everyone was. I never set foot in here before now. I used to send my senses to check on him, though. I was very worried."

"He's feeling... hurt," Destiny observed from his aura. "Not just lonely."

"Yeah," Jay agreed, turning his head to stare at the wall.

I sent my senses out, flinched at the powerful emotions, then returned them. "Agreed. When are we fighting?" I was getting unnerved with all these bad emotions. I wanted to punch something to shake it off.

"Soon, I hope," Jay said, still staring at the wall. A few minutes passed, and nothing happened at all. I could sense Jay feeling numb and could almost see him shaking in tension. Finally he stood up, now beginning to slightly shake, and said, "I have to get out of here." He walked out and left.

Destiny and I met worried gazes. I tracked him with my aura power. He walked down a path I knew was familiar in his mind and sat down at a bench that he seemed to recognize. He sat cross-legged with his elbows propped up on his knees and his head in his hands.

"Is he okay?" Destiny asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I know he hates this memory and is sitting at a bench he probably always did when Jaeson was here. Otherwise he's blocking me out."

"Alright," Destiny said, accepting this with a nod. She sighed. "Poor Jaeson. Poor Jay. This is hurting them both."

I nodded. "Yeah."

I heard Jaeson say, "Another, please." Focused on the bartender as he handed my friend another glass. I felt Jaeson feel empty and numb and sad and lonely. I knew how Jay was feeling: helpless, not to mention frustrated and sad. I almost knew, anyway. I hadn't had to watch him sit there and feel terrible probably a hundred times in one life and then have relive it yet again this life.

"Oh, my gawd!" someone yelled. Destiny and I popped up out of our seats and whipped around to face the door.

A man was walking in, covered from head to toe in black. He had a hat on and tilted his head down so it covered his face. I sensed nothing but solid loneliness coming from it.

"Jay!" Destiny gasped quietly. "We need you!" She was evidently too surprised and nervous to keep the statement in her thoughts. Heck, I'd be the same way.

The guy tilted his head up, revealing that his face had no human features and he was not human at all, only an empty black figure in a similar shape.

I heard a chair crash onto the ground felt Jaeson's emotions surge. I whipped around to face him. His back still facing us, he had stood up, knocking the chair over in the process. He was now gripping the table, his knuckles white and his back arched in terrible pain. "Go away!" Jaeson gasped. His body began to shake with tension and pain.

"Ya!" came Jay's voice. He appeared in the doorway and hit the shadowy figure hard as he entered the building. The figure fell over and Jay ran over to stand next to me. "You heard him!" he yelled at the faceless body. "Go away!"

Jaeson was barely able to move his head to see us. When he did, his eyes widened in surprise.

I felt blue power surge at my fingertips. I threw the mini aura sphere into the creature, who still hadn't gotten up yet. The small sphere hit his back and, with a hiss, burned right through the thing's body.

"Well," I said. "That was strange."

Jay shrugged. "We're in someone else's mind, remember. This is all a dream, and dreams tend to be quite... different than reality." Jay then threw a hand out, illuminating the figure with a psychic hold.

"Jaeson! You can fight this guy!" Destiny called. "We believe in you!"

For a long moment Jaeson stood crouching over the table edge and clutching its surface, his head turned to stare back at us. Then he stood up fully and faced the monster. He made a motion like he was pushing something heavy with a single hand, then curled his fingers in. Jay released his psychic hold on the beast as Jaeson took his own. He abruptly balled his fist and the creature... de-pixelated with a loud hissing sound.

The smallest smile appeared on Jaeson's face. He whispered, "Thank you."

"You did it," Jay said. "We only helped a little." Jay nodded as though it were the most true thing in the world. After a reluctant moment, Jaeson dipped his head in agreement.

Suddenly a flash of black whipped across the scene, blotting it all out. Just as quickly another scene painted itself into our vision.

We ended up in the same spot as we had in the same town as before.

"Two things," I began, looking mostly at Jay. "Firstly, did we not do it? Secondly, Jay, did you hypnotize him?"

"We did do it," Jay said. "This is the next memory, I think. And no, I didn't exactly hypnotize him."

"I've seen that before," Destiny said, looking interested. "You convinced him, but gave a little psychic... push."

"I did," Jay said, nodding. "This poison works because Jaeson is actually, truly not capable of doing this on his own. I think it's mostly because he doesn't believe he can firstly, and secondly isn't really aware that this isn't a dream. The second thing especially because Jaeson didn't manipulate the dream like he usually does."

"I know what you mean," Destiny said, nodding. "Jaeson always has total control in his dreams."

"You think this poison prevents that?" I wondered, tilting my head to the side in curiosity.

"Definitely," Jay said, nodding. "Which means that we need to let him know this is a dream. That may be another way to help him beat his demons."

"We still need to help him fight, though," Destiny said.

"We do. Right now, we should test the hypothesis by finding Jaeson and convincing him this is a dream," Jay decided. Destiny and I nodded agreement.

"You don't need to find me, I'm right here," a familiar voice said. We three turned around to see Jaeson with his arms crossed.

"Jaeson!" Destiny said, smiling. "Who am I?"

Jaeson frowned. "You're Destiny. Have you lost your memories or something?"

"No, no," Destiny said, shaking her head. "But please, take a look around you. Did you meet me in this life?"

Jaeson blinked a few times and frowned more. He turned his head, taking in his surroundings. "... No," he finally said. "What's happening?"

"This is a dream," I said to Jaeson insistently.

Jaeson turned to me and looked me up and down. "I didn't meet you yet, either. This _is_ a dream."

"Exactly!" Jay said, smiling. He clasps his hands together in excitement.

"I've got you," a feminine voice said. A light pink-red (the color when someone blushes), womanly figure appeared behind Jaeson. Before any of us could move, the creature grabbed his shoulders.

"I can't move," Jaeson said, his eyes widening in fear.

I used my aura. This was shame. "Why shame?" I wondered quietly in Jay's direction.

"Shame because Mary hated him," Jay whispered to Destiny and I.

"Jaeson! You can't let one girl's words ruin all your lives!" Destiny yelled, looking a bit peeved. "Mary is NOT the only person who cares about you!"

"How did you know about that?" Jaeson demanded, looking a little shocked with his eyes slightly opened wider and mouth the smallest bit agape.

Destiny ignored Jaeson's response and insisted, "This is a dream, remember! We're just things your mind has put together to help you! Now use your psychic power! Come on!" Obviously she lied, but even more so she clearly didn't want to talk about it now.

"I can't!" Jaeson yelled again. He still stood frozen.

"He's not strong enough on his own yet," Jay said sadly, shaking his head. "Austin, help him!"

"Okay!" I agreed, then raced around so I faced the back of the creature. I threw an aura sphere at it. Again, it burned a small hole right through the figure.

Destiny's eyes flashed red and the figure collapsed behind Jaeson. As the fingers of Shame left Jaeson's shoulders he took a deep breath and then turned around. He closed his eyes and the figure screamed and then faded away.

The scene flashed the black color another time and we appeared in the same town once more.

"Here we go again," I sighed. I was getting pretty tired of this place.

"How many memories were here?" Destiny wondered.

Jay shrugged. "It's different for everyone. Obviously there are at least three for Jaeson."

I sighed once more. "Two down, any number possible to go."

Author's Note:

Darmn. Poor Jaeson. Poor Jay. Poor Austin. Just poor everybody at this point xD

This chapter... makes me very sad. The beginning, really. I mean, this is why people drink/do drugs/ do other bad things. They're so depressed that everything seems like it'll end in failure and they tend to turn to the options they know in the back of their mind won't work. For a short while (like, the first time or second possibly) drugs will make you feel better. Then the side effects kick in and you're always tired and your brain is deteriorating and you're addicted and stealing from people to get money to feed your addiction and people turn away from you and you're feeling like you're all alone and many, many other bad things happen. Seriously, though. No one sets out one day to do bad things and eventually kill themselves with it. There's always a reason people do these things. They always tell themselves it's better... and sometimes they can't see what it really is. It makes me sad. Poor people who do bad things :( It usually means they have sucky lives.

(Not that I do drugs or anything, people xD I don't. I think they're terrible and bad. I just... know people who... have issues. I recently attended an event at my school that helped to really explain why people turn to these things. And I'm really interested in psychology and have talked to social workers and such before as well.)

Yeah. That's what I decided to share with you all. So there you go. Sorry for all the depressing news... Hope you enjoyed anyway.

P.S. If anyone ever needs anyone to talk to, I'll be glad to listen and try to help as best I can.

Thank you all for reading. I hope you have a nice day.


	23. Help

Ha, ha, ha... Writer S. Block... I'll keep posting for awhile, but I currently am stuck on a chapter since I need a bit of info that I can't find in the book...

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 23

{HELP [austin] PLEH}

Destiny gasped as the scene quickly got darker and darker, the sun setting at an impossibly quick pace and the moon rising on the opposite horizon.

"I guess the memory takes place at night," Jay said as the heavens slowly came to a halt above us.

"I guess so," I agreed, gazing up curiously.

"What the hell?" came Jaeson's voice. It sounded close to us but he didn't seem to be directing his speech at us. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, no," Jay whispered, his eyes widening in sudden realization. He abruptly snapped his eyes shut, bowed his head, and set his jaw in a grimace. "I hate this memory..."

"Of course I know my power levels," Jaeson's voice came again. "... What? Dead?"

"Jaeson's being blamed for murder," Jay whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.

"What in hell gave you the idea that I did it?" Jaeson demanded. He sounded angry and hurt at the same time.

"Who was killed?" I wondered, tilting my head curiously.

"Mary," Jay said back, his voice a gasp of sound.

I felt my shoulders fall and my head tilt down in sadness. I knew what this meant. Another layer of emotionlessness on the outside covering up the latest round of scars on the inside. Poor Jaeson.

"She's my sister! I- AH!" Jaeson suddenly yelled loudly.

Jay immediately raced the way his voice had come from, Destiny and I on his heels.

Jaeson was down on one knee, shaking hard. His head was down, but I could see his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth clenching in great pain. Two of his fingers were pressing into the left side of his forehead.

A greenish-yellow humanoid figure with no face and spiked edges coming off its entire body loomed over Jaeson, a single finger barely touching the crown of his head.

I used my aura. Guilt. Why was it sharp? Oh, yes. Guilt is a knife in your belly, a constant stabbing feeling.

"Jaeson!" Destiny gasped.

Jaeson forced open his eyes as he shook. Though he made no sound, his lips moved to form the word, "Help."

"You're dreaming! You didn't meet me or Austin in this life, remember?" Destiny demanded, sounding close to hysteria. She didn't look hysterical, she looked pissed, with her fists clenching at her sides and her eyes narrowed at the creature.

"Yes!" Jaeson whispered. He then elbowed the creature behind him, but his elbow went right through it and had no effect on the thing. "Help..."

I was about to go forward and attack, but Jay threw his arm out in front of me. He yelled to Jaeson, "We're here to help you! We're your friends and we always will be! Through the most painful and the most joyous moments of your life I have been there, and Austin and Destiny have been riding the roller coaster of life along side us for so long now! Jaeson, we're here for you!"

Destiny began to walk forward, a grim determination setting her jaw and narrowing her eyes. She didn't look angry, just focused.

She walked straight up to Jaeson, kneeled down in front of his quivering body, and hugged him.

First everything froze solid in place, then the ground randomly disappeared and was replaced by only blackness. The buildings around us turned stark white and then what looked like de-pixelated.

Images started flashing all around us.

I recognized myself through Jaeson's eyes and felt his displeasure at meeting me. I felt his emotions change for the better as he heard me ask if he was alright after creating the aura stone and later watched me fight at the battle of being.

I saw Destiny when she was very young, looking up at the stars with wonder and amazement in her eyes. As her lips moved Jaeson's emotions did, from numb and uncaring to curious and then he seemed to share her wonder at the stars.

Jaeson hated when she grew up, learned how to take care of herself. His aura smiled when Destiny fell into Felix's open arms as Jaeson slipped into the coma that would have killed him. I heard his pleased thought echo into my brain.

_I__trust__he__will__take__care__of__her__if__I__must__leave__..._

All the while Jaeson was still frozen with wide eyes as Destiny had her arms wrapped around him. The sharp figure of guilt had long ago disappeared.

I glanced over at Jay to see his reaction, but Jay was frozen in place, much like Jaeson and Destiny were. He had a calm and happy expression on his face as he watched Jaeson's memories, which, I then noticed, had also stopped streaming.

"What the heck?" I asked out loud.

Just then I felt a shiver run down my spine as the the picture screen in Jaeson's mind went black.

Author's Note:

Whaaaat is occurring currently in the quarrel in the mind belonging to Jaeson? Will the being Austin regain consciousness, or is he forever to travel in the lightless recordings made by the mind of the being Jaeson?

Complicated words! Ha, ha! I vwin!

Next month is camp NaNoWriMo. I will keep posting on occasion since I have been building up a store of chapters in order to keep you all entertained while I struggle. I'll be writing in my personal hardest genre- realistic fiction. The topic? My high school life... kind of. With a familiar character added in that's present in both my stories. And spiced up a little. (Not Austin.)

Yeah. So. This is going to be one of the hardest literary things I could possibly make myself do, besides, you know, edit entire novels or papers for lit class.


	24. Late

Chapter 24

{LATE [knight] ETAL}

{LATE [a few days ago] ETAL}

I heard a slight sound and whipped around. My eyes scanned the scene. I saw no one, so I turned back around.

I heard the sound again but before I could move I felt someone shove me off the roof.

I yelped as I fell and then morphed quickly into a pidgey. I used my aura. Pratt was on the roof I'd just been standing on, a gun in his hand.

"You bastard!" I screamed, then stupidly began to soar up in my blinding anger at him from his capturing of Eve Laek. Pratt shot the gun, a smirk on his face. I tried to maneuver around the bullet but couldn't... the bullet made contact with my left wing and the force of it quickly drove me down and I crashed onto the cement sidewalk.

"One more out of the way. Two to go. Then Eve will be happy to go with me for certain!" Pratt shouted gleefully to the wind.

I wanted to yell, "You sick bastard! She'll never go with you! You hurt her and now you're doing it again!" but obviously he thought I was dead, and I didn't want to let him know I wasn't dead so he could come down here and actually kill me. She'd already be pissed I was hurt, but Eve'd kill him herself if I _was_ dead. Plus I needed to warn Will and Thunder. Two to go? Yeah. It was them for sure.

Wait. If those two left alive were Thunder and Will, what about Laek?

Was it already too late to save him?

{LATE [austin] ETAL}

Suddenly I blinked and I was lying on the floor beside Jaeson's cot in his and Destiny's living room.

"What the fudge?" I murmured, sitting up.

"Austin! You're awake!" Lily said happily, a touch of relief to her voice.

"What? Yeah, I am," I said. Lily came over from the kitchen and helped me up.

"Guys!" she called. "Austin's awake!"

Uxie, Rafe, Maya, and Felix all came racing over to me.

All at once, Maya asked, "Did you do it?", Rafe demanded, "Is he dead?", and Felix asked quietly, "Are the others okay?" Uxie remained silent, gazing at the others, who were still sleeping.

"Okay," I said, taking a moment to decide how to answer them all. I turned to each and responded, "Um, I think so, I think not, and I think so."

"Okay," all three responded.

"F**king hell," Destiny's pained voice smashed into our ears. "My head."

The lot of us walked around the cot and over to her. Poor Destiny was lying on the ground with one arm thrown over her eyes and the other clutching the crown of her head. Felix, like a good little boyfriend, immediately was at her side, helping her sit up and asking if he could do something for her.

"Yeah. I could use a bottle of Advil," Destiny mumbled, obviously still in pain. She flinched abruptly. "Damn. Make that two."

As Felix gently laid her back down and ran to get her some medicine, I remarked, "Wow. You've got a foul mouth today."

"Shut up, Austin," Destiny muttered. I smirked happily. _She__'__s__annoyed__. __Mission__accomplished__._

"You're so childish," Lily said, regarding my smirk and taunt.

"That's why you love me," I smiled in the way you would think an innocent child would smile.

Lily snorted, but both of us knew it was true.

Felix returned with a pillow and set of medical supplies. While he started asking Destiny about her pain and things, I turned to Maya. She and Rafe had met gazes and looked to be in deep mental conversation.

"What's going on with her?" I wondered. I glanced to my left, where Jay lied next to the couch. "And why hasn't Jay woken up yet?"

"Did Destiny touch Jaeson during the dream?" Maya asked curiously, looking a bit grim.

"Yeah, she hugged him, then the dream went nuts, and now we're here," I told her.

"She probably absorbed a touch of the poison, but-" Maya began, but I interrupted her.

"WHAT?" I demanded, my eyes widening and mouth dropping in shock. Everyone turned to stare at me, confusion on their faces.

"-she woke up and is in pain so obviously her body is dealing with it," Maya finished. "No need to be so freaked out."

"Um...?" Lily turned to me and trailed, raising her eyebrows at me, waiting for me to explain. Uxie, Felix, and Destiny were all still staring my way as well.

"Nothing," I muttered, shaking my head.

"Whatever," Lily said, then turned back to watch Felix help Destiny.

"As for Jay," Rafe put in, "we're not sure. That's what we were discussing."

{LATE [jay] ETAL}

My psychic powers had enabled me to realize that we were exiting the nightmarish mind-poison dreams and I had chosen not to wake up yet, wanting to know if Jaeson was really alright.

I walked around the sandy dream desert, looking for Jaeson. I could tell he was lucid dreaming because I could feel his psychic energy and see the clouds swirling in circles above me in the dark night sky and in contrast to now he couldn't control his dreams when we were in the mind poison nightmares. By the fact that the clouds were light and fluffy and not a stormy gray, I decided he was alright, probably just mulling things over.

I found him a few minutes later in his mewtwo form. He was lying in the sand with his legs crossed and his left arm behind his head. He was using his right to swirl the clouds by turning his hand in circles.

I morphed into my mew form and silently laid down next to him.

"Not right now, subconscious Jay," Jaeson murmured quietly, then flicked his fingers. I didn't disappear, so, without looking my way, he realized, "You're not subconscious Jay."

"Nope," I agreed.

We just lied there, under the dark night sky, for a long time.

A bit randomly, I gently lifted my right arm up to the skies to make the shape of Gemini The Twins appear in the stars. "You see that?"

Jaeson didn't answer, just kept swirling the clouds. He slightly moved them so he could see the constellation better.

I took that as a sign that he wanted me to continue, so I did so. "Castor and Pollux were the best of friends and brothers. One of them was mortal and the other immortal, but neither were jealous of the other. Their strength, endurance, and courage were all the same and they went to battle to help others all the time. One day during the Trojan war, the mortal brother was killed. The immortal brother was so sad that he asked Zeus to turn him and his brother into stars so they could be together forever."

I didn't think Jaeson realized, but once he closed his eyes the stars I had created formed into figures with dot eyes and lined smiles. As I spoke the figures acted out the scenes, obviously Jaeson picturing them in his mind.

When the brother was killed, the background colored in. The dead brother's dot face formed more details... until it was mine. The other brother turned into Jaeson, and he cried over me. The scene froze and formed white dots again and the background darkened until the scene was drawn by stars in the night sky.

When I finished and he didn't speak and the scene didn't move, I asked, "So you think of me as your brother?"

Jaeson slowly opened his eyes. He stared up at the sky and said, "Damn it all."

I laughed. "So do you?"

"I used to think of you as that little brother who was born thirteen years after me," Jaeson told me. "I suppose a lot of it is that you were actually born thirteen years after me in the very first life."

"True," I said, nodding. But I caught the loophole in his words. "So what's the rest of it?"

"Damn," Jaeson said, sounding amused at me catching the hidden meaning. A bit of a smile flitted across his face. "You know me too well. The other thing is that I thought you weren't depressed after the first life because you didn't understand it. Now I know you probably understood what our powers would mean better than I did."

"So, you said you thought of me as a younger brother. Past tense," I reminded Jaeson. "What am I now?"

"You're more like an older brother, actually," Jaeson admitted. "I think you've always been more mature than me because you could always see the bright side of things and I almost never could. I still can't."

"That's not really something of maturity, more of stren-... circumstances," I told my friend.

"Strength? Yes, that'd be it," Jaeson told me, and laughed a little at my embarrassment. "You don't have to be embarrassed, Jay. You're stronger than me."

The two of us were silent for awhile, staring up at the starry scene. Jaeson raised his arm and started swirling the clouds around the sky again, covering the Gemini twins.

"I've been wondering for awhile now," I began, my voice quiet.

"Yes?" Jaeson questioned. He rolled his head to the side to look at me.

"I've been wondering," I said, turning my own head to see him. "Well... I know you were sad about your family for your first couple lives. But it's been so long and I know you must have gotten over that. In fact I've spied on your dreams. Mary used to be everywhere in them, but not anymore. What's the other reason you became who you are? Not that there's anything wrong with you, but Uxie's right. You're very different than you were."

Jaeson stared up at the sky again and his face grew grim.

Author's Note:

I really like this chapter... for a few reasons.

First of all, the beginning works very well to move the plot line along.

Secondly because of the development of Jay and Jaeson's characters and their relationship to each other.

Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it :)


	25. Thought

Chapter 25

{THOUGHT [jay] THGUOHT}

Jaeson stared up at the sky for a long time.

"You don't have to tell me," I responded very quietly. "Though I might be able to help you."

It took Jaeson another few minutes before he responded. "You always help me, Jay. You always have. Ever since the very beginning you have followed me around, learning from my mistakes and yours. You've always kept track of my life and nudged me along even if I was shoving you back. Even when I ignored you for a good sixty years you still kept trying to help me. You still stayed by my side, even though I'd been trying to push you off a cliff. You've put my life over yours, too. Always. Even when you were busy as hell when Austin first showed up and you were figuring him out and you were with Lily so much you still always made sure I was alright. Why, Jay? Am I really worth all that to you? I feel like I haven't helped you, not once. I've probably hurt you just as much as you've helped me. Why have you stuck around so long?"

I thought for a moment. Why had I stuck around? Was it because I didn't have any other friends? No. Palkia and I had been friends. Lily and I had been friends since my later lives. Was is because he needed me? Well, for sure that was one thing. But there was another reason, one whose memory lied at the tip of my tongue in the form of words.

"Jay?" Jaeson said very quietly, sounding the least bit frightened. "I haven't offended you, have I?"

I bursted into nervous laughter. "Offended me? Of course not! I was just thinking."

"Alright," Jaeson said, going back to his emotionless self again. He turned his head to stare at the sky again.

"I think it was partly because you needed me, but mostly because I missed you," I told Jaeson. I turned my own head up towards the heavens. Jaeson was still swirling the clouds above us in uneven circles.

"Missed me?" Jaeson wondered.

"Yeah. In our first life you were my best friend even if I wasn't yours. You were like my big brother. Not that you remember this, but whenever I got bullied you would stand up for me," I told Jaeson, closing my eyes and letting the familiar memories wash over me. "And even though I was the annoying little brother to you and I knew it I always felt comfortable talking to you and you helped me alot. In fact it was you who taught me to see the bright side in things."

Jaeson stopped swirling the clouds and let his arm drop to his side. He was silent for a long time before he whispered, "Me?"

"Yeah, you," I told him. "I think it was what would nowadays be freshman year. You were already married, I think, and had moved to a different town. My parents liked the other town better and decided we should move. The first day I was there I remember being really sad. You told me, 'Look at the bright side, Jay. You told me how you were getting bullied. Well, none of those bullies will be at this new school. You may be leaving old friends but the old town isn't too far and you can go visit them. You can make new ones, too.' Then you elbowed me and said, 'And there's some pretty girls here your age as well.' When our first life passed and you needed help, I decided to help you just the same as you did me so that maybe you'd be the first Jaeson again one day."

Again, Jaeson was silent. He closed his eyes and all the clouds disappeared. Behind them in the night sky was the Gemini constellation, back to its normal shape.

"The clouds are gone," I told Jaeson quietly. "Does that mean you understand now?"

"It does," Jaeson responded. "You asked why I'm still like this."

"Not that it's a bad thing," I added in again. I turned my head to look at him. "But yes, I did ask."

Jaeson still stared up at the sky but answered, "When Mary and my family died everything went metaphorically black. It stayed like that for a life or two. And just when I was about to get better, slavery came along. I thought it was so, so unspeakably horrible. I thought humans were such terrible creatures. Mary and my family being gone still hurt, but I was more concerned with the human race in general. What's worse is that it took the bastards almost three hundred years before everyone was considered equal and racism still runs like nidorans through a field of carrots. Guns were invented and the civil war and other wars broke out and people killed each other like there was no tomorrow. A couple hundred years passed and you know I joined World War One and fought for the allies. There was more senseless murder. Finally World War Two came with killing in the streets and the Holocaust and killing on the battlefront. There's just so much death in this world, Jay. Some many horrible, horrible things. I used to be able to see the little yellow daisy I've always imagined in the sidewalk, full of life next to the cement. Now the flower doesn't look yellow anymore, just... the same gray as I always thought it would never be like. How do you still see the yellow?"

I took a deep breath. I never knew Jaeson absorbed this much from the world. He took it all in and thought about it. He didn't just let it bounce away like most people. Most people saw it as a number, a set of characters in a book or something. Jaeson was there fighting. He saw the plain number as faces. Bloody, emaciated faces.

"How?" Jaeson asked. He wasn't demanding anything. His voice sounded weak, defeated, and he had a pained expression on his face.

I sat up and readjusted myself into a cross-legged position. Jaeson opened his eyes and sat up, too, watching me. I looked up at the stars and said softly, "Jaeson, not everybody died. Not everybody had slaves. Not every slave owner treated them like objects. There are always the people who formed the underground railroad. There are always the people who fought because they thought it was making the world a better place for everyone. There are always the people who fight to free others, to help them. There are always the people who feel guilt for what they've done. And there are always, always the people who care. That is what I remember no matter what happens."

Jaeson closed his eyes and leaned back. He didn't respond, so I knew he was thinking about everything that had been said.

I lied back onto the ground as well. I whispered, "I'm here for you now and I always will be. Destiny and Austin and Lily, too. Always, Jaeson. You have us here to help you. Just remember that. And that someone always cares."

Author's Note:

Short, I know. But, gawd, I love this chapter so much as well. I got to really delve into Jaeson's character and (though not as much) Jay's as well.

Again, I hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	26. Dual

Enjoy!

Chapter 26

{DUAL [jaeson] LAUD}

I woke up for the first time in what may have been years for all I knew. (Though Jay would have told me in the dream if that was so.) I used my auric abilities to sense Destiny asleep in her room and Jay on the floor, though I was unsure if he was awake or not. I figured he was meditating since his mind was clear but his heartbeat was not slow enough for him to be sleeping.

I was still lying on the same cot. I had an IV in my arm and a heart rate monitor on my finger as well as another needle I wasn't sure of that I'd investigate momentarily. There was a computer monitor on the coffee table as well as a keyboard.

I sat up, wanting to investigate the other needle, then, immediately feeling exhausted, I lied back down.

The mysterious needle in question led into a small device that connected to the monitor. Too bad it took so much energy (that I didn't currently have) to read computer codes effectively.

"You're awake," Jay's voice quietly drifted up to my ears.

"And you're on the floor," I murmured tiredly. I forced my eyes to stay open. Why was I so tired? I'd been sleeping this whole time, hadn't I?

"That would be correct," Jay said, then slowly picked himself up off the ground. He stretched his arms above his head for a moment. "You aren't to move someone when they're in another's mind and that's probably where I fell."

"...Sounds reasonable enough," I decided. Too tired to run through the process of figuring it out myself, I asked Jay, "Why am I so exhausted? Was I not sleeping this entire time?"

"It takes a lot of energy to fight mind poison," Jay explained softly. "Your body had probably used up any and every bit of stored energy you had. So I'm guessing you're hungry."

I lied and said, "I'm fine."

Jay smiled and responded, "I'll get you some marshmallows."

I couldn't help it: I laughed. It wasn't even a chuckle. I just full-out laughed.

Jay smiled broadly.

"Damn, you got me at my weakest, you cheater," I said. I couldn't get rid of the big, fat, stupid smile on my face.

"You want me to blow them up first?" Jay wondered next, grinning widely.

"Not without me," I declared. "Seriously, though, I'm fine."

"And the sun is also a planet cleverly disguised as our solar system's entire source of life. I'll get you a sandwich," Jay told me as he left the room.

I mentally swore at myself for the fact that I was still smiling.

{DUAL [jaeson] LAUD}

A day passed. I woke up at one the next morning, greeted by the beautiful darkness that claimed the house at the late hour.

I morphed into an umbreon, knowing a smaller body would take up less energy. And because umbreon were creatures of the shadows, silent as the night itself.

I walked into the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter, then nosed open a cabinet. Thankfully Destiny hadn't moved anything, so I found the jar of almonds easily enough. Almonds, if you didn't know, are pretty good energy sources and help with mental clarity.

I ate a good amount of them and then put the jar back, then closed the cabinet and hopped down.

I was about to go back to bed, but I realized I'd just energized myself and probably wouldn't be able to sleep just yet, so I walked over to the window and hopped onto the sil. It was only about one and a half feet off the ground, so it was an easy jump.

As I stared up at the moon, I thought about the situation we were in.

Rafe and Maya were probably no longer in danger since I was now cured, but it would be best if we hid them away in another dimension such as Palkia's for a while, I thought. Except we hadn't brought her memories back yet nor have we found her, so that wouldn't work.

Also, Eve had been kidnapped as well as Laek. I was fairly sure that Will, Knight, and Thunder were probably targets, so we'd have to keep an eye on them or send them somewhere safe.

Abruptly, a thought struck me: was anywhere safe from Pratt's powers right now?

I poked at it in my mind for a bit when suddenly blue elbows landed on the sil and a voice said, "Good morning."

I instantly whipped around to face whoever it was, clicking my claws out and crouching into a fighting stance.

Austin as a riolu tilted his head and raised his eyebrows at me, sighed and said, "You'd think I was here to kill you."

I clicked my claws away and sat back down, turning back to stare out the window. Austin was leaning against the sill with his elbows propped up on it and his head in his hands.

"By the way, why in hell are you up so early?" Austin asked, then yawned.

I shrugged my umbreon shoulders. "Woke up now."

A silence fell between us, and surprisingly Austin didn't seem to mind terribly much. For a while, anyway. Eventually he said, quietly, "Two things."

"Yes?" I wondered, taking just a moment to glance at him. I was curious as to what he was going to say.

"Welcome back," Austin turned to me and smiled. He gently poked my shoulder so I would turn to him and he finished with, "To the world of the living. I would poke you harder, by the way, but you look so small I feel like I'd push you over."

"Try me," I said, snorting.

Austin barely put a pound of pressure on me before I fell off.

"Gosh, damn it to hell," I swore, then swore again to find I was smiling in amusement at myself. What in the world's name had flipping come over me lately?

Austin noticed and said quietly as if he were merely observing a movie, "You're smiling."

I jumped back up onto the windowsill and dragged my paw repeatedly over my face until I could get the damned smile off my face. I responded to Austin, saying, "You didn't make fun of me."

"Nope," Austin agreed. "Not only am I too tired to put forth the effort but I realized making fun of you might make you see smiling in a bad light when everyone is trying to make you see it in a good one."

"What if that isn't me?" I asked quietly, staring up at the moon.

"What if it is?" Austin countered. "I know there's a lot of people who hate themselves. But it isn't really themselves they hate, it's their _real_ selves. They put on a fake suit and pretend to like things they don't and copy everyone else's reaction. That's a good lot of adults. Then there's the people who are trying to figure out exactly what they do and don't like and how to fit in and what all that means. That'd be most teenagers. Then there's the people who don't care about titles or skin color or religion or if you like blue or pies or anything, who accept themselves and each other for who they are. Those are the younger children, who are perhaps smarter than us all. Then there's you, who's stuck somewhere in the middle of everything."

I was silent for a long time, knowing he was right. I was a bit startled by the fact that those were Austin's words, not Jay's. Maybe he was more mature and wiser than I had previously thought possible.

Austin broke the silence, saying, "Anyway, what I really came over to tell you is that Destiny's really stressed and she gets more so by the day."

Alarmed for my sister, I demanded, "What do you know?"

Austin chuckled. "What's the magic word?"

"I might slap you," I said, annoyed since he was toying with me while I was worrying. "Please."

"I was looking for 'abra cadabra' but that'll work, too," Austin smirked happily at me. I mentally rolled my eyes. My sister might be in trouble. I needed to know how to fix it right away so I could get to it. He needed to stop stalling. "She's worried for you, first of all. Second, she's looking for approval."

"What?" I wondered, my brow furrowing in confusion. I had expected physical danger. This was news to me. "I knew that she was worried about me, but approval for what?"

"Her and Felix," Austin told me, looking up out the window. He turned to meet my gaze. "They really like each other, I'll tell you that right now, but Destiny won't go on a date with him or anything at all until she can get you to approve of them."

"Oh," I said, blinking in a bit of surprise. How had I missed that? "What are you suggesting I do, since you no doubt have a plan already halfway in action?"

"It isn't complicated," Austin said, smiling. "Just take them out to dinner. Meet Felix. Tell them at the end, if you do approve, that you'll be seeing them together again soon or something of the like."

"It may have to wait awhile since we've got the world to save, but I'll do it," I told Austin. I nudged him then and looked him square in the eye to tell him, "Thank you. It might not seem so sometimes, but I appreciate your help more than you'd think."

Austin nodded, smiling. He suddenly stopped smiling, growing serious. "Now. You were asleep in total for about a week. In the last two days Jay and I have have managed to extend my senses enough to find that we can't find Pratt. When you're better we plan on using your help to look for holes in the auric map to ferret him out."

"Sounds like a plan," I told Austin.

Austin smiled again. "Very good. Now. I'm exhausted, so I'm heading off to bed. G'night! Or should I say G'morning?"

"Both," I responded as he left.

Austin turned to smile once more over my way.

{DUAL [jaeson] LAUD}

The next morning, at around two, I woke up in Destiny's lap, still an umbreon. I cursed myself for falling asleep on that damn window sill. I crawled out of her lap slowly, meaning not to wake her.

As I jumped off the couch she said sleepily, "Jaeson?"

I jumped onto the cot, turned to her, and said, "Destiny."

Slowly my sister sat up straight and rubbed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. She smiled broadly and got up. Destiny walked over and hugged me tightly to her as if she thought I would leave.

"I missed you," Destiny whispered. I was surprised to find that her aura was a tug-of-war between calmness, extreme joyfulness, and fear. Not to mention the stress the seemed to underline her entire aura.

"I know," I said. "I missed you, too, once I was lucid. Destiny?"

"Yes?" she wondered, still hugging me. I would usually have pulled away by now, but she was not only stronger than I was right then but was a ball of emotion that I felt any movement on my part would set off, and trust me, I had no desire for her to break down into tears.

"One day I'll take you and Felix out to dinner to prove it, but for now I'll just tell you that I approve," I said to Destiny. It wasn't just because Austin told me she wanted my approval, though my telling her right then did have a relation to that. I did somewhat like Felix, but that wasn't really what was important. What was important was that Destiny really enjoyed him and that he felt the same way. They had fallen in love and I was not keen on preventing that. Destiny knew what it would mean to be in a relationship with a human and could take care of herself and was willing to take the risks. So I approved.

"Really?" Destiny's voice was but a whisper.

"Yes," I told her.

Destiny squeezed me so tightly I literally did not have enough room to expand my chest in order to breathe.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much, thank you!" Destiny said. Part of the stress, a small one, drifted away from her aura. Some fear went, too. But there was still some left and I planned to try and help make it go away.

"Destiny, can't breathe," I managed to tell her.

"Sorry!" Destiny explained and immediately stepped back.

I took a moment to re-oxygenate my blood before I asked, "What else are you stressing about?"

Destiny's smile disappeared and she sat down on the couch. "Jaeson, Pratt has hurt so many and killed so much. I'm worried some of our friends will be added to those lists."

"Destiny, Austin's already on both lists and the rest of us are all on the first," I told her, letting sympathy slide into my voice. "There's not much to lose."

"Oh, but there is everything to lose, Jaeson," Destiny said sadly. "We could all die, for one thing. Then Pratt would have an easy time taking over the world or whatever since the other legends don't remember much, if anything at all. And he has Eve and Laek. Laek has the legendary gene and Pratt can hold him. In this life the jolteon doesn't even have the mutated thing to hold him back. Plus he has Eve, and she's got scary amounts of potential and power. Souls with dark magic in them can be corrupted arguably easier than most. I'm afraid she's not strong enough, that she'll lose her control over it. And if we're out of the picture by then... then Pratt has the world at his fingertips."

"That will never, ever happen," I told Destiny determinedly, looking her straight in the eye. "I promise."

Before Destiny could respond, the phone rang.

I morphed into a human and she tossed me it.

"Hello?" I asked, wondering who'd be calling this late.

"Jaeson, Knight was shot," Will said, his voice grim.

"What? By who?" I demanded, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Pratt. Knight was on the roof of a building-" Will began.

"Why was he on a roof?" I questioned.

"He was stressed. His riolu instincts told him to get high up at night, which he did. Riolus' natural habitats are mountains and they tend to be nocturnal, if you didn't know," Will told me.

"I did, but continue," I said to Will.

"Knight was on the roof. Pratt shoved him off. He morphed and tried to hit Pratt but Pratt shot him down. With a _gun_. He hit the cement and it almost killed him," Will told me, his voice growing grimmer by the word. "It's a miracle he lived through the impact, actually."

"How many bones were broken?" I asked him.

"That's part of the strangeness of it all," Will admitted. "None."

"Obviously other forces were working here," I decided immediately. It only takes a fall from thirty feet to kill you and shatter every molecule in your body. Alive? Not to mention no bones broken? Impossible unless someone else was tugging strings.

"Like what?" Will wondered, sounding a little frustrated. "I can't figure it out for the life of me. Or, really, the life of Knight."

"Are you sure he's telling the truth?" I asked next. What? It could be possible, could it not?

"As sure as Pratt is evil," Will said surely. "I know Knight well enough to know if he's lying. I swear he isn't."

"Okay. Give me a moment to figure this out," I told him. I gently put the phone down and ran through my mind for possible solutions.

I heard Jay's voice in my head say, 'Eve has a black magic ability, correct? And strong feelings of protection towards her friends, including Knight?'

'Yes to both,' I told my friend. 'Have you been spying on my mind?'

'Just when you answered the phone was all. I was curious as to who it was. But anyway, I do believe Eve's power is more subconsciously developed than we thought,' Jay told me, sounding convinced of it.

'What do you mean?' I questioned.

'Didn't you sense the power that underlined every movement she made? Jaeson, her power is incredible,' Jay told me.

'I know, I know. What did you mean subconscious? I'm not terribly familiar with black magic, but from what I've heard in legends it's mostly conscious ability,' I said to my friend.

'Not when you've got power like that,' Jay alerted me. 'If you've ever noticed the way Austin is always either twitching or looking around, you'll see it.'

'I've always thought he had some very mild form of ADHD,' I admitted to my friend.

'Not quite,' Jay responded. 'It's his auric abilities. He doesn't realize it, but with every twitch he makes his mind analyzes the movement in the auras around him. Have you noticed that whenever he laughs or feels happy, you feel a tiny burst of it yourself?'

After pondering the question and running through my memories, I responded, 'Yes, actually.'

'Austin wants everyone to be happy, so he is constantly and subconsciously reaching his aura out to whoever is around him. That's what I mean by subconscious power, though with dark magic it's a bit different.'

'Explain it to me, please,' I asked.

'Well... Dark magic is like aura in that it's kind of everywhere, but you can't sense it. Users of the magic, who are considered witches and wizards, are able to influence things. Like how Austin can pull up a shield around himself and others by manipulating the aura in the air, witches and wizards can pull shields around people who are hundreds of miles away if their nexus with that person is strong enough,' Jay explained.

'Nexus?' I wondered next. 'A series of links or connections.'

'Or the bond between a witch or wizard and her or his friends or family,' Jay explained.

'Again, this all sounds as if the processes are conscious,' I repeated, still unsure of it.

Jay didn't respond until a full thirty seconds had passed. He worded carefully, 'All black magicians-'

'Black or dark?' I asked.

'They're referred to as both,' Jay explained. 'All of them have a slight dual-personality. They all have a normal side and a power side. The normal side is... well, normal. The power side is actually fairly normal as well, except that in the power side all emotions except for mercy, friendship, and anger are cut out in order to use all energy possible to focus on their ability. Some souls turn into a full dual personality with two wholly different personalities because they try and ignore the other side of them, but most accept the slight dual-sidedness as the power side only shows up when they are extremely pressured or they or their close friends are in danger. Eve is one of the latter. Her power side has shown up before, evident by her eyes changing color. But only some, very few actually, Eve included in that few, are powerful enough to switch into power mode consciously.'

'So you think Eve protected Knight, and that's why he isn't dead?' I wondered a minute later after running through everything in my mind twelve or so times.

'Yes. Do me a favor and tell Will for me, will you?' Jay asked me.

'I will,' I responded, and I sensed Jay's presence leave my mind.

I shared with Will what we had discussed.

Will was silent for a long time before he quietly asked in a whisper, "Do you think she could save Laek that way?"

I took a deep breath, knowing I'd probably have to crush his hopes. "Will, if I know Pratt, he's dead. You'll see him next life."

"But maybe?" Will asked. He sounded childish and naive, but I had to admit when I had only lived for two lives I was feeling similarly.

I mentally sighed loudly and said, "I don't know, Will. There's too many variables."

I hated crushing his hopes, but what else was I supposed to do? Lie?

Author Note:

We learned more about Eve's ability, no? I like the prospect of it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed :)


	27. Just Yet

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 27

{JUST YET [eve] TEY TSUJ}

One more morning in the series of countless mornings marched in and its light drummed its way into my tired head. I had been up watching Laek sleep (in case he suddenly stopped breathing on me) until I unwillingly collapsed into sleep.

Luckily, Laek was still in my lap, his ragged breath not normal but nonetheless there.

After a number of hours I couldn't tell anymore, I heard footsteps and waited patiently for Pratt to arrive and mock me and my poor friend.

Pratt said nothing at first, just held his hands behind his back and stared at me thoughtfully from behind iron bars. I glared up at him, holding Laek close to me.

"You know," Pratt began. He looked at me, waiting for a response.

"What?" I demanded, shooting daggers at him with my eyes.

"You seem to care more about the corpse of your friend than me," Pratt said, tilting his head. I remembered that he thought Laek was dead. "So say 'goodbye.'"

I gasped as Laek disappeared from my arms. Something subconscious snapped my fingers, and somehow I knew that he was safe.

How, I didn't think I'd ever learn, but I knew he was.

In response, I looked up at Pratt with a set jaw and a fire burning in my eyes that said,

"I'm

not

broken

just yet."

{JUST YET [third person] TEY TSUJ}

He lived in an apartment building a block away from his university in Sydney, Australia. He woke up with his heart racing and sweat dripping down his face, flashes of a white maiden laughing evilly, of a terrible man and his dark basement, of a dirt platform with danger written across it in invisible lines that became visible just as you stepped onto the deadly playground of death.

He didn't understand any of it, so he chose to ignore all the dreams, dismissing them.

That night, something in the boy, like always, told him to go out. It was always on moonless nights like these that he felt most comfortable, even more so when he was alone.

He glanced at the clock. One. Deciding to screw it, he got up out of bed and slipped on socks, sneakers, and his leather jacket before heading outside.

His image in the glass door flashed at him as he opened it and stepped out. Black hair that fell in shorter locks around his face and longer over the back of his head, green eyes.

He breathed in the air for a long time before he heard a small, squeak-like sound. He looked around and around the area until he spotted the jolteon in the middle of the road.

The boy quickly looked left and right, then ran over to it and stared. It was alive judging by its ragged breaths, so he picked the poor thing up. As he walked back up to his apartment, he looked down at the poor little thing. It was bruised and beaten and scarred and so starved he could see each of his ribs and frail bones.

He whispered, "You poor little mate. Somebody roughed ya up good, didn't they?"

The boy didn't hear it, but Laek in his barely-conscious state began to whispered back, "Yes, he did, M-" but fainted mid-sentence.

Author's Note:

And who might this be, all? Any guesses? I bet you know him! :D Hope you enjoyed!

Poor Eve, still stuck with Pratt... Gives me shivers thinking about it.


	28. Myles

Um, so guys, if Sydney's streets are safe at two in the morning, please let me know so I can fix it. The only big city I've been to is Chicago, and you don't exactly want to be out past dark there. I don't, anyway.

Enjoy!

Chapter 27

{MYLES [third person] SELYM}

The boy with black hair and green eyes stared down at the fainted jolteon laying on the couch, his lips down-turned in a frustrated frown. The poor thing was obviously badly beaten, but he didn't have a car and at two in the morning Sydney's streets weren't exactly the safest.

There was only one way he could get to the pokemon center at that point.

He set his jaw and a small spark of nervousness lit in his eyes as he reached down to pick the small pokemon up. The boy walked over to the window and opened it all the way. He shivered as the cool breeze touched him, then was warmed again at the sight of the moonless night sky laid out before him. He smiled and reached back, gripping the hood of his leather jacket. He felt black power surge in his hand. He used it and ripped off his hood, and then he gently set it to lie just outside before climbing out onto it.

Standing up on the flat disk of shadowy energy, he leaned slightly forward and started towards the pokemon center.

He reached it a few minutes later. The boy leaned down and stepped onto the ground behind the building, then reattached his hood with his shadow power.

He walked into the pokemon center, the jolteon in his arms. Looking down at it, he couldn't help but think it looked somehow familiar.

"Hello, Myles," the nurse smiled tiredly as he walked in. "What are you doing here so late? Don't you have classes tomorrow?"

Myles smiled sadly and gently placed the jolteon on the counter.

Nurse Joy gasped. "Oh, no! Where did you find this poor thing?" she asked, then called for her chansey to help.

"In the middle of the road. I wonder if he got hit by a car," Myles said, shrugging. Chansey came in with a cot. As Nurse Joy and Chansey put the small pokemon on the cot, Myles asked, "Will he be okay?"

Nurse Joy looked up at me sadness in her eyes. "I don't know, Myles. He's extremely emaciated and very beaten. I'm surprised he isn't dead yet."

{MYLES [laek] SELYM}

I was surprised to wake up, even more so to not hear Eve's quick breathing. No, the breathing pattern I was hearing from the person whose lap I was in was so slow I thought he was asleep.

When I started hearing snoring, I knew he or she was.

I dared a glance up, hoping it wasn't Pratt.

Nope. It was Myles. He was leaning against a white wall and sitting on white tiled flooring. I guessed we were at a pokemon center. Slowly, I realized that there was a tube going up my nose and a needle in my arm.

So the last night wasn't a dream.

I hoped Eve was okay. Now that she didn't have to worry about me anymore, I guessed she would be fine. Eve was a survivor, and Pratt didn't want her dead. Me, on the other hand... I was very lucky to be alive indeed.

"Well, hello there, mate," Myles's tired voice floated down to me.

I craned my neck to look up at him. I abruptly wondered, "Do you remember me?"

Myles stared down at me for a moment before looking to the side and muttering to himself, "Remember, Myles, you can understand pokemon since you are one." Then he looked back down at me and replied, "You look familiar."

Why didn't Myles remember me? Did something get messed up after Will and I were reincarnated? Or did he simply not remember me?

"You don't remember me from when we were locked in Pratt's basement?" I wondered.

Myles frowned and his eyebrows scrunched together. "I have nightmares about someone's basement, but I don't know who Pratt is."

"You don't remember Kate?" I wondered. He continued to frown, so I added, "Kate the Cresselia? Your girlfriend?"

Suddenly Myles started shaking. His eyes snapped shut and he grabbed his head in his hands in pain.

What had I done? Was it my words, maybe, that triggered something?

I shook my head at myself and watched Myles wriggle for a few moments in the pain. I wondered if he knew the answer.

Finally, Myles fainted. Then, of course, Nurse Joy came in.

"Oh, no!" she gasped. She raced over and picked me up off Myles's lap, to which I yelped in pain at. She apologized quietly and placed me gently on the bed. I fainted right after, I guess from the large amount of energy it took for me to talk to Myles for so long.

{MYLES [laek] SELYM}

I woke up to the gentle light of the moon brushing my fur. I was laying on the same cot as before, and I barely noticed a shape sitting cross-legged against the wall. I thought that maybe firstly he was Myles and secondly he was asleep, but all the same I wondered, "Myles?"

"Glad to see you awake, mate," the figure told me, opening his eyes. They glowed a vibrant, energized green in the dark.

"Do you remember?" I asked, my voice a croak.

"Yes. Everything," Myles told me, his bright eyes bobbing up and down in what I assumed was part of a nod. I heard the rustle of his clothes as he stood and heard muffled steps as he walked, presumably over to me. "We should call someone."

"I agree," I told him.

"Who should we call, do you think?" Myles wondered. "I don't know anyone's numbers."

"I know Will's," I said, smiling at the thought of being reunited with my friends. I just hoped the others were still all right...

I heard the distinct click of a plastic phone being picked up and a single number pressed. Myles said, "Tell it to me."

Author's Note:

And so the story continues. Looks like Laek and Myles will be meeting up with everyone, huh?

Hope you enjoyed!

P.S. Nanowrimo hates me right now. Realistic fiction is a *****. Fantasy, oh, do I miss you!


	29. See You Soon

I'M BAA-AACK! AND THANK GOODNESS FOR IT. I HAVE MISSED FANTASY SO MCUH I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU.

FOR NOW, ENJOY.

{SEE YOU SOON [will] NOOS UOY EES}

I hung up with Jaeson, feeling pretty depressed. I was happier, though, that he'd told me the truth rather than given me false reassurance.

But I was still depressed.

The phone rang again. I sighed and picked it up.

"Hello?" I wondered.

"Um... Will?" asked a familiar voice.

It took me a moment to put a thumb on the voice's name. "Myles?"

"You got me, mate," Myles said. He sounded firstly exhausted, secondly... something else. Behind the tiredness I heard a dim somberness, something grim threaded with a tiny needle into his voice.

"What's wrong?" I demanded abruptly, clutching the phone and tensing my body. Was someone dead? Did he find Eve's body somewhere? Laek's? Another legend's? What if-

"I found Laek. He's-"

"Is he dead?" I almost shouted into the phone. I could feel the plastic cracking under my intense grip, and I was nearly shaking with tension. 'No, no, no... He can't be dead...!'

"No, but he isn't in terribly good condition," Myles told me. I felt an immense sense of relief wash over me. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down and suppress the shout of joy I wanted to give in order to focus on Myles's words. "He was severely beaten and probably starved of food and water." Myles's voice cracked on the last syllable, and I could picture him flinch.

"And of love and warmth and peace and light," I whispered into the phone.

"Probably," Myles whispered back, a tremble in his voice as well as mine. Terrible memories of a basement were shimmying their way into our consciousnesses. "He's conscious now, by the way. He told me to tell you he's alright. And on a separate note, he said something to me and I got my memories back. But I didn't remember until then, which is very, very strange. Did you experience something similar?"

"I didn't. Laek, either. We believe it began happening right after the two of us were reincarnated into the world," I told Myles, the fear leaving my voice.

"We?" he wondered, no traces of the emotion left in his voice, either.

"Jaeson, Jay, Lily, Austin, Destiny, me, and several other legends," I informed him.

"Okay. Good to know the others are alright," Myles told me. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome. And... Um, could I talk to Laek?" I wondered, feeling hope surge in me.

"Yeah. Hang on. Just so you know, he's really tired, like me, since here in Sydney it's really, really late. It also takes a lot of energy for him to talk a lot," Myles told me. I almost did a face-palm. No wonder he sounded so tired. They were a good seventeen or so hours ahead and it was in the middle of the night there. "He might faint, he says. But here he is."

I waited a moment before asking hopefully, "Laek?"

"Hi, Will," Laek's voice drifted into my ears, and another, bigger wave of relief and thankfulness washed over me. Myles was right; Laek sounded totally exhausted. But I was glad to hear my friend's voice either way.

"Hey," I said softly. "Are you alright?"

"I will be," he told me. "Eve is totally fine. Her powers are getting stronger, I think. She teleported me here. How are Knight and Thunder and everyone else?"

"Knight's... in the hospital. Pratt shot him off the roof of a building," I told my friend, but then added quickly, "But he's fine. We believe Eve had something big to do with it, especially since he hasn't broken any bones."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Laek admitted.

"Everyone else is fine. Thunder has been keeping a silent vigil over him. I think he's afraid he'll lose Knight as well as Eve," I said, sharing with Laek my thoughts.

"Eve is strong as ever. Knight I'm sure will be fine, especially with Eve's power kicking in to help him out. In fact, Will..." Laek paused, thinking about his next sentence.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Nurse Joy said I should be dead," Laek told me, sounding a tad suspicious. Suspiscious in a good way, though. "I think Eve had something to do with me, too. What's... what is her power developing into, do you think?"

"I spoke with Jaeson, just a moment before you called, actually," I told him. I floated my eyes up to the ceiling, thinking about what he'd said. "Apparently Eve has a Nexus between you and her and Knight and her. Possibly Thunder and/or I as well."

"Nexus? The term sounds familiar," Laek told me. He began to sound more tired as the conversation wore on. "What is it?"

"A strong bond between a witch and her friends," I informed him. "Yes, Eve is considered a witch. Or a black/dark magician. This also means she has a slight split personality, one side considered a power side because she rids herself of all emotions except friendship, mercy, and anger to conserve energy, and her normal side, which is where you know her as. But according to Jaeson, Eve is strong enough that she is capable of consciously switching between the two, which is considered extremely rare. Very few witches and wizards are capable of it as it takes a lot of ability to do so without exhausting yourself."

"We knew she was powerful..." Laek whispered, now sounding near exhaustion.

"...But we didn't really know how powerful she was. Maybe we don't even know now," I finished.

"Yeah," Laek said, and I heard him yawn. "I'm going to fall asleep. I'll ask Myles to get me too you guys tomorrow sometime. Can you tell me your address?"

I told him where our cave was, feeling overjoyed that Laek would be back and Knight would be out of the hospital tomorrow. With Thunder and I already there, we'd only be missing Eve.

Poor Eve. I hoped she was alright.

"See you tomorrow," I told my best friend.

"See you," he said quietly, and he hung up.

{SEE YOU SOON [jaeson] NOOS UOY EES}

The phone rang about seven minutes later. I picked it up and said, my tiredness ringing in my voice, "Hello."

"Laek's alive," Will told me, his voice light with joy. "He's in Austrailia with Myles. I just spoke with him."

"Really? Is he alright? Is Eve alright?" I demanded, abruptly clutching the phone in anticipation. I found myself hoping they were both in good condition, though I knew it was nearly impossible for that to be true, given who Pratt was.

"They'll both be okay. Eve somehow protected him, too," Will said to me, sounding relieved.

"That's great. Is Eve still with the bastard?" I asked.

"She is. But in three days' time we- Laek, Thunder, Knight, and I- will go and get her," Will told me, sounding determined. "Knight's coming home tomorrow from the hospital, and Myles is taking Laek here. Actually, would you like to see the cave?"

"The... cave?" I wondered, frowning.

"Our house. It's also a training facility. Bring Austin and Jay and everybody, if you will. I'll give you the address," Will said, and told me it. He then, upon my request, proceeded to tell me about the facility.

I found it quite interesting, so I called Austin and everyone.

I AM STILL BACK AND STILL RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY ABOUT IT.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED.

BUT BECAUSE YOU ALL WAITED SO PATIENTLY ALL MONTH LONG THERE WILL BE MORE UPDATES TODAY.


	30. Holy Shoot Is Right

ENJOY, CHILDREN.

{HOLY SHOOT IS RIGHT [jaeson] THGIR SI TOOHS YLOH}

Austin, Jay, Destiny, and I arrived at the cave and Will, after hitting a series of rocks on the cave wall, opened up an elevator that'd lead us into their home. Will hit a button with a number one on it once we were inside the elevator.

"Holy shit!" Austin gasped as we entered the first room.

The room was huge with two hallways leading in different directions. The walls were painted a light blue and the ceiling was a darker shade. I could see that there were several grates in the ceiling, and wondered why. Usually the air conditioning system didn't require one every yard or so.

Will walked over to one wall and leaned against it. "Hang on a second, if you will," he said, kindly smiling.

Just then the vent two or so feet down the hallway bursted open and Knight, in his riolu form, jumped down and landed in a crouching position on the ground. He then popped up and quickly sidestepped.

"Ya!" Thunder (in his pikachu form) yelled as he jumped down from the vent.

Knight used a roundhouse kick and hit Thunder hard. Thunder angled himself and was able to bounce off the wall. Knight dodged to the right just as Thunder hit the wall behind him, but the little pikachu got up instantly and sparks started from his cheeks. In response Knight backed up and drew back a paw, aura buzzing around it.

"Stop!" Will gasped and ran between them. The two kids cut their attacks at once. Will responded by sighing in relief and then looking both boys in the eyes before saying, "Where do special attacks go?"

Thunder and Knight sighed loudly and hung their heads before responding, "In the special room."

"Very good," Will said, smiling.

"I'll race you!" Knight yelled, and started running.

"Wait!" Will called. Knight stopped in his tracks. Will motioned towards us with his hand.

"Oh," Knight mumbled, realizing we were there. He came back over and said, "Hi."

"Hi," Austin responded, smiling. He looked him up and down for a moment, taking in the black left eye and the bruises covering him from head to toe. "Glad you're not dead."

"Me, too," Knight told us, nodding.

Will turned to us all and said, "Shall we show you the special room?"

"Can we show them the fun way?" Knight demanded, his eyes lighting up with excitement. Thunder grew a smile on his face, also looking excited.

Will turned back to us, looking a bit nervous. "It's... difficult, shall I say? And you need to be in a smallish pokemon form."

Austin morphed into his lucario form. He looked at the ground and muttered to himself, "At least there's one thing good about being short." Then he looked back up, smiled, drew his fists up, and said, "Bring it on!"

There was a small flash of light beside me as Jay morphed into his mew form. "I could use a bit of training in this form."

"I'm in!" Destiny cheered with a great smile, and morphed into an espeon.

"Okay," I agreed with a shrug, and turned into an umbreon.

Will still looked slightly nervous, but he morphed into a buizel and said, "Okay. Good luck."

"Yes!" Knight pumped his fists into the air with excitement. "Let's do this!" With that he jumped up and grabbed onto the edge of the vent, then swung up into it. Thunder copied his movement.

Will nervously glanced back at us once more before jumping up and climbing into the vent.

Austin was next, easily jumping up then pulling himself into the vent.

Destiny jumped up and in after, and I followed.

"Holy shit!" Austin exclaimed as we started at our surroundings.

The vent system looked like a huge maze thanks to the six openings to tunnels around us.

"Um," Will mumbled, still looking nervous, "Using your aura is cheating. That's the only rule regarding the 'fun way.' If you get lost, get out and I'll come get you. There's a grate over every room and several over each hallway, and they're all easily kicked down unless it's over a bathroom, bedroom, or the control room. Those have passcode locks. Also, this one vent system stretches across every floor of this place, so... look down and don't fall into the next floor. Best of luck to you all." With that he began slowly walking forward.

I frowned in confusion, wondering why he said best of luck to us all. Were we taking separate paths? But, after following Will for a good seven turns, I realized something. "Where is everyone else?"

"They took their own paths." Will stopped to turn to me and shrug. As he turned to continue walking, he said, "You can chose one, too."

"Why not?" I asked myself, and let Will get far enough ahead of me that I couldn't see him any longer.

I turned left and randomly felt a thread hit my ankle. I instantly backed up a step- just in time for a wall to smash the entrance closed a whisker away from my face.

"Now I know why Will was so nervous," I muttered to myself, and headed a different way. I felt something give slightly beneath my paw, and I leaped forward, narrowly avoiding the wall that time.

This would be interesting indeed.

{ [eve] }

I sat in my little cell, facing the wall. Jaeson's dream had entered my thoughts, and I was wondering about all that he'd said.

I'd decided he was very, very wrong.

I was not a cookie jar. I did not have sweets inside me.

I was H2O. Not water, water implies a liquid, which sometimes I was. Sometimes I was water vapor.

But then I was ice.

Solid.

Ice.

Pratt could not warm me up enough to turn me into water, easy to manipulate, or gas, conforming to any space. I was forever ice, and I would make sure to stay that way.

I made that promise for myself.

Even if he kicked me until I busted apart, broken and in shards, I would not melt. Even if he put a heater in front of me, I would not melt.

I was ice.

But another tiny dose of Jaeson's words made its way to my mind.

'"Austin was right, you know. We are fairly similar. I wish we weren't. Something very bad must have happened to you. You're a young girl who doesn't talk much and is pretty rock-hard. Usually girls your age are the opposite."'

I stared at the words in the screen in my mind, knowing each was true, willing them not to be. I hated myself for hating that I wasn't normal. I hated that I gave a crap about what others thought. Yeah, sure, it was a point of life, but whatever. I still hated that I cared.

Gawd, why in hell was I even thinking about such things?

I should have been planning my escape, not reflecting on my life as if I'd be dead or broken or something in the near future.

In the back of my mind, though, I knew I couldn't escape on my own. Pratt was too powerful, and my own abilities were too underdeveloped.

But that didn't mean no one would come and rescue me.

And that also didn't mean that I couldn't work on developing my powers further, did it?

I had an idea...

{ [jaeson] }

I had set for myself a leisurely pace down the tunnels, easy strolling over any trip wires. I was ready to run at any moment, knowing full well that I could step on a pressure plate.

Suddenly I heard Knight yell, "Run, Jaeson, run!" and he raced past me, laughing.

I frowned, baffled by his strange behaviour. Run from what?

"JAESON! HELP ME!" Destiny screamed. I whipped around and saw her in her espeon form as she raced away from the walls as they hit the ceiling again and again behind her.

I gasped and ran towards her, quickly grabbing her by the scruff and bolting. I put her down a few minutes later, thinking we were far enough ahead for now. We started walking again, slower this time.

"What the f*** was Will thinking?" Destiny demanded in a frantic shout, her eyes wide.

"Hell if I know," I told her, wondering the same thing. I shrugged. "But he did warn us."

"Not about this!" Destiny argued, sounding panicked still.

Something I saw out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and we raced past it. It was another passageway, I realized as I glanced back at it. I abruptly gripped Destiny's scruff in my umbreon jaws and turned back.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. I threw her as gently as I could into the other airway, and jumped into it myself just as the wall rose through past us.

"Hello," Will's gentle voice flooded my ears.

Destiny stood up and yelled, her eyes red with anger, "What the hell were you thinking? We could have died!"

Will frowned and wondered, "What do you mean?" then walked past us and elbowed the wall. It fell back down into the metal that made up the vent instantly.

"What did you do?" I asked calmly, my head tilted to the side in curiosity.

Will frowned further. "I touched it. Oh!" he suddenly smiled again. "You didn't know. If you touch any of the traps, they'll disappear immediately. They're all totally and completely harmless."

Suddenly abrupt laughter echoed through the vents and into my ears. "What the hell is this?" I demanded, surprised.

Will laughed. "That would be Eve laughing at you. It's a recording from when the three were younger. Knight had trouble focusing in the beginning, and he hated when anyone laughed at him, so..." Will waved his paws around, encompassing the effect of the laughter.

I gasped as I felt a presence enter my mind. I heard one word in Eve's voice:

'Jaeson.'

Again I gasped and immediately morphed into a mew so I could better detect her. I put two fingers to my temple and clutched her spirit.

"Eve!" I shouted. "I can hear you!"

Will gasped, too, and put his paw to his temple as well. Destiny quickly repeated the actions.

We all gasped as we heard her say in our minds, '54 Mal Delevit Mansion.'

OMG TIME TO RESCUE EVE MAYBE. I ACTUALLY CAN'T REMEMBER IF IT'S THE NEXT CHAPTER OR NOT.


	31. One Finally Back, One Still Gone

FINALLY. Here is the next chapter. Updates are going to be more frequent, especially once summer kicks in. My main obstacle right now would be not failing finals.

P.S. Within the next while I will probably upload my camp Nano story to fictionpress. If any of you are interested in it at all (it's realistic fiction. U.U' ) then it should be up within the week. It's about two high schoolers, one dealing with an abusive mother and the other a father with bipolar disease. And of course there's some romance somewhere. What would a high school story be without a little kissing? It'll be under rikkilucario7 if you so choose to read it.

ENJOY!

Chapter 31

{ONE FINALLY BACK, ONE STILL GONE [jaeson] ENOG LLITS ENO ,KCAB YLLANIF ENO}

"This way," Will said directly after Eve's presence left us all. He turned tail and started walking down the vent, his stride swift and confident.

Eventually we reached a specific grate. Looking through it, I realized we ended up above a lab-like room, with a white-tiled floor and plastered walls. I could see Knight, Thunder, Austin, and Jay down there, nervously twitching. Will kicked the grate and it smashed onto the floor with a loud thump. He then jumped down easily onto the ground and looked around. Destiny and I followed suit.

"Did you hear it as well?" Jay demanded the moment all three of us landed.

"Yeah. It was Eve for certain," I told him, grimness taking over my expression.

Austin nodded. "I could feel her aura."

"Me, too," Knight said. "We should go now."

"Not yet-" Will began, and the phone started ringing.

Thunder picked it up and wondered, "Hello?" He waited, then suddenly his face brightened. He dropped the phone back in the carrier and started rushing down a hallway, yelling, "I'm letting Myles in!"

"Wait!" Will shouted, and ran after him. The rest of us quickly started running as well.

Thunder pulled open the door and walked back in just as we arrived. Myles, the only one in human form, and Laek, a jolteon, were both at the pikachu's side.

"Laek!" Knight gasped. I noticed that Knight, Thunder, and Will all looked extremely excited, ecstatic even.

"Hey, everyone," Laek said happily, sounding a lot stronger than he looked.

Will walked forward, a brilliant smile on his face. "Welcome to our cave, Myles. You can morph into whatever form you'd like. You're safe here."

"Thank you," Myles said, giving a slight bow, "but I have to go. I have classes and things." He met our eyes and said warmly, "It's great to see you all again, though." Thunder led him out after.

"Are you alright?" Will demanded from Laek, worry on his face, as soon as Thunder returned.

"I am now," Laek told him, nodding. "But Eve isn't."

Knight demanded with surprised eyes, "What's happened to her?"

Laek shook his head. "A lot. What matters now, though, is that she is all alone currently and we need to go get her."

"Let's go," Austin said, his eyes glazed with fury and determination. "He won't be able to hurt anyone else after I'm done with that bastard!"

"Wait!" I shouted. "We need a plan."

"Jaeson's right," Will agreed, nodding. He looked grim. "But we don't have much time."

"What happened to three days?" I wondered.

"It would take three days for my computer to locate Pratt's position based off of auric emptiness, or abnormal patterns in the earth's aura that would suggest he's hiding there," Will clarified. "Now that we know where she is..."

"I think we should have a team and a back-up team," Knight put in.

"I think we should wire someone and send them in," Austin said, stepping forward. "We know what that bastard is capable of, and I don't want any surprises."

"But who?" Jay wondered.

"Me," Will said instantly, a determined fire burning in his eyes. "I'm-"

"Hate to break it to you, but we need your expertise on this place here with us," Jay said quietly.

"We'll go," Knight offered, the same burning light in his eyes. Thunder's, too, I noticed.

"We only need one of you to go," I told them, frowning. I didn't understand why both needed to go.

Knight said evenly, "Thunder, Eve, and I are a team. That's the way it was, that's the way it will be, that's the way it is. I don't mean to offend you-"

"-But we won't put Eve's life in anyone's paws but our own," Thunder finished, his eyes closed and his jaw set in grimness.

I ducked my head and said, "I see."

"Can you two fight well enough?" Austin wondered.

There was a gleam in Knight's eye as he said, "Why don't we show you?"

{ONE FINALLY BACK, ONE STILL GONE [jaeson] ENOG LLITS ENO ,KCAB YLLANIF ENO}

Back in the lab, Will went up to the wall and hit three spots. Where he hit the first spot (in the middle of the back wall) there was a good lot of mechanical sound as three-fourths of the wall receded into the ceiling. Revealed behind it was a glass screen with a chamber behind it whose walls were all covered in white tile. He hit the second spot where there was still plaster, and a control panel pushed forward, hitting its section of the plaster against the wall. The last place he hit was directly next to the chamber on the wall adjacent to it. A door appeared there, the wall sliding over the over part like a sliding glass door.

"Ready?" Will asked Knight and Thunder. Austin, Destiny, and Jay had their eyebrows raised in surprise, but after the vent system tricks nothing mechanical in this place seemed so out-of-the-ordinary anymore to me.

"Blast it!" Knight commanded as he and Thunder raced through the door.

Will hit a button labeled '3' when they appeared behind the glass.

"Level three," a mechanical and feminine voice sounded.

"What! I told you to blast it!" Knight complained.

Will's fingered hovered above a button labeled 'Start.' "When the _three_ of you fight together you can't get past level six."

"Fine," Knight muttered, lowering his head.

Will hit the button, and red lights started flashing. A siren sounded. (Distractions, I figured. Train their minds as well as their bodies.)

"Ghastly!" something shouted. A purple ball floated out of nowhere.

"Shit! I hate ghost-types!" Knight shouted, and his tail started glowing in an iron tail attack. He jumped up and twisted in the air, smashing the fake ghastly easily.

Meanwhile, Thunder shot everything that came his way with thunderbolt.

"Hip-hip-hippopotas!" something yelled.

"Shit," Thunder swore quietly, biting his lip.

Another ball appeared. It had the same brown-and-yellow color patterns as he pokemon it was trying to imitate.

Thunder's fist lit up white and he smashed it down onto the hippopotas imitation. The thing was destroyed instantly.

"Brick break," Austin said with a smile. "Impressive."

"Level three complete," the voice announced ten minutes later. "Level four."

Knight and Thunder high-fived, brief smiles lighting up their faces.

Then spheres who each yelled different cries started coming at them.

"Damn!" they both shouted, and jumped up to begin fighting.

I noticed Will smirk. (Though it was more of a slightly devious smile.) He hit a button and typed something in. Knowing what it was based on his paw placement, I smiled.

The mechanical feminine voice said, "Children. Watch your language."

Knight got distracted and something knocked him off his feet. He got up and yelled, "You suck!" but his face was lit up with amusement.

"You know what Eve would have said?" Laek asked Will.

Will beamed, mocking her probable face, and said in a girlish voice, "Fuck you!"

"Exactly!" Laek exclaimed. Both of them burst out into bitter sweet laughter.

When it died away, Will looked away and whispered, "I miss seeing the three of them together. Heck, I miss when all of us were together. They especially are feeling it now, though."

"What do you mean?" Destiny asked, blinking in curiosity.

"The three of them trust each other," I told her, having heard it from Eve herself.

Destiny frowned. "Don't they trust Will and Laek, too?"

"Well," Will interrupted, "It's a bit difficult to explain." He looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "The three of them are best friends. Closer, actually. Closer than siblings and best friends mixed. They literally have no secrets from each other. But we... we're... we're like their parents, Laek and I. We look after them, and they trust us, but the three of them are afraid of our judgment still, like children are to their parents. For example, sometimes when kids are gay they may not tell their parents in fear of them rejecting it. That rejection hurts them, as much as they'd like to think it wouldn't."

Austin blinked once, then stared down at the floor for a moment, obviously deep in thought. "So they tell you a lot, but sometimes they're afraid you won't accept something about them and they don't want to have to face that?"

"Yes," Will nodded. The voice sounded that level four was complete. He looked back at Knight and Thunder, smiled bittersweetly again as they put their paws on top of each other and then raised them high, shouting something like, "Go team!" I noticed the slight sadness in their auras grow a smidge bigger. I could definitely tell that they were missing Eve. Saying "Go Team" when your team was missing a member reminded you once more of the person's mis-presence.

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED!


	32. Taunt

HOPE YOU ENJOY!

Chapter 32

{TAUNT [jaeson] TNUAT}

"Seriously," Jay addressed everyone as Knight and Thunder, both sweating like nothing else, came out of the glass room to join us. He had started looking grim a bit ago, and we each knew he was right. No more procrastinating. "We need a plan."

"We should just stick with the old plan, except the three days thing," Knight decided. He walked over to the control panel and pressed a few buttons. A piece of the wall opened, and two towels were revealed. Knight and Thunder both one.

"What was your plan?" Austin wondered.

"Knight, Thunder, and I would invade his property. Thunder and Knight would scout for Eve, possibly gaining entry through a window as starly, and I would stay outside and watch for any signs of the guy. Of course, we'd go when he wasn't there," Will explained, smiling lightly as usual.

"How would you know he wasn't there?" Destiny wondered.

"Knight," Will told us honestly, shrugging.

"I think we should stick to it," Knight said again. Thunder nodded agreement.

"Now we have a back-up team," Will reminded the two.

Knight shrugged. "Okay. Then you can come with us and they can be the B Team."

"I think..." Will trailed, and closed his eyes to think. "I think that Jaeson should go with you. He's connected with Eve more than the rest of you all, besides Knight and Thunder, of course."

"How did you know?" I wondered, frowning.

Will smiled. "You didn't ask any questions before about Eve and those two. Obviously you already knew. Otherwise I'd assume something was very wrong considering I know you to be incredibly intelligent."

I favored him with a small smile and offered, "I might appreciate your company more than Austin's."

Austin merely shrugged and said, "Will, sometimes I think that you are secretly plotting against each of us, and the innocence you _appear_to have is fake."

Will grinned and told him, "Better watch your back."

{TAUNT [eve] TNUAT}

I woke up one day (it could have been night, actually. I had no idea.) in dark jeans and a black blouse. I quickly realized I was lying on the floor of a library, and I popped up immediately.

"What the fuck?" were my first words regarding the situation.

"Ah, my dear, you have awoken," Pratt's ratty voice shoved itself into my ears. "I have decided that a taste of freedom will make you see what life could be like for us."

I whipped around, feeling my eyes turn violet and power gently but quickly flow through my veins as I saw him standing behind me.

"You bastard!" I screeched, and then felt dark energy charge up my fist as I shoved it in Pratt's direction. I fumed as it hit an invisible shield.

I stalked past him and walked through the house, infuriated that he'd changed my clothes. Even more so the thought he'd probably touched me.

Though I had to admit that mostly I was angry that he was taunting me with this little freedom of walking about his house.

{TAUNT [knight] TNUAT}

"I assume we should wire someone and send them in first," Austin reminded us all.

"No. We've got me and you for that," I said to him firmly. "Which is why you and Laek are staying here."

"Knight?" Will wondered, tilting his head. His eyes were not full of anger, or authority, but curiosity.

"Will," I told him honestly, facing him with my chin high and Thunder stepping beside me for support, "when Thunder and I were training, we realized something. We respect your authority and your experience, but this is our battle and we intend to fight it like we are the commanders."

Will smiled cheerily and broadly. "Very good."

A little shocked, I frowned and asked, "What?"

"Laek and I had been wondering when you two would take control of the situation," Will told Thunder and I, looking very pleased with us. "Now, I'd usually say that you shouldn't let your emotions get in the way of your vision and that Austin, who is more experience than you, go, but in this case, emotions may assist you."

I smiled, and I felt a smile in Thunder's aura beside me. "Thank you," I told him. I turned to everyone and said, "Now. Let's act."

With that I looked up again and began to tell everyone the rest of Thunder and I's plan.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED!


	33. Still

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 33

{STILL [eve] LLITS}

I was half-asleep that night in a small, hidden corner somewhere in Pratt's house. I froze as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up into Pratt's eyes and saw something I'd feared since I was young: lust.

And a tiny voice inside me knew he'd kept his shield up.

I screamed as loud as I could, knowing soon I would no longer be able to move my throat since my legs had just frozen. His shield had paralyzed me.

"I love you," Pratt whispered.

My throat muscles froze involuntarily. I knew he didn't want to hear me scream my hatred for him.

{STILL [knight] LLITS}

It was near midnight, and the only reason I could see was because of the bright full moon and my riolu eyes in place of a starly's normal eyes.

I heard a scream, and the need to rush into Pratt's house overwhelmed me and I bit my tongue hard for a moment in order to not scream in frustration.

Eve never screamed unless she was in true danger.

"Laek," I said, my voice verging on hysterical. I could feel my heart start racing and my wings felt heavier, much heavier. This was horrible.

"It's okay," Laek said soothingly in my ear through a hidden bluetooth.

Austin told me gently yet commandingly through the headpiece, "You and Thunder are almost good to go. Destiny, Jaeson, Jay, are you three in place?"

"Yup!" Destiny said.

"Jay and I are as well," Jaeson reported.

"Lily, Uxie?" Austin wondered next. (We'd filled them in on the plan.) "Will, Laek?"

"Austin, we're right here. Obviously, we're good," Lily reminded Austin. I could picture him grinning at her and Uxie rolling her eyes.

"We're in place outside the building," Will said for him and Laek. "Pratt's car isn't here, but... but Eve wouldn't scream for nothing."

"We're assuming he's there, so be careful," Laek clarified quietly.

"Okay," I told them. "Thanks."

"Great. You two are clear, then. Remember, don't kill him," Austin said, his voice turning tense and grim with his last words. "There's some information we need to squeeze out of him first."

"He'll just reincarnate if we kill him, anyway," Jay said, agreeing. "Now let's do this."

"All right," I said. "Let's."

With that Thunder and I swiftly flew down onto the ground, then morphed into drilbur and burrowed underground, searching for the small cave that contained Pratt's pipes. It was easy. Following the plan, we began searching for a specific rusty pipe, and thankfully we found it without a problem. I felt dread curl into my stomach: was this too easy?

"Let's go," Thunder whispered to me.

I nodded, and we slashed it. Nothing spilled out: it was an air pipe.

The air vents. We'd be traveling through the air vents.

I almost laughed at the irony.

We climbed into the large rusty pipe and began walking along its length.

Eventually we found ourselves on the first floor. We used slash again and then morphed into pidgey before flying out. As we flew we stuck close to the ceiling in order to remain semi-hidden as we searched for our friend.

She was not on the first floor, so we flew back into the vents and occasionally poked a hole to look through.

When we finally found her, he was lying on top of her.

It had been too easy. He'd been too distracted with Eve to catch us.

As I felt anger envelope my entire being, I screeched, "You will die!" and slashed and scraped and shook with madness until I was able to get through.

Upon hearing me Pratt had jumped up (abruptly fully clothed) and Eve stole the chance to morph into an eevee and roll away into the corner, where upon she morphed again, this time into a pidgey. She flew up to me and said ridiculously calmly considering what had just happened, "He's got a shield up. I can't hit him."

I stared into her face, at her aura, but all I saw was calmness. Finally I nodded. "Will, Laek, are the alarms disabled?" I wondered.

"Everything but the power has been decimated," Will reported.

I smirked. "Then Jay, Jaeson, that'd be you two."

The window abruptly imploded and the shards raced down and smashed onto the ground below, shattering.

Jay and Jaeson teleported into the room, Jay near the window, Jaeson near the door, both in their original forms.

Pratt's eyes suddenly widened in fear.

Jaeson smirked and murmured quietly, "Take this."

The two legends each threw a ball of psychic energy, Jaeson's purple and Jay's pink. They hit Pratt's shield and exploded. Both legends threw up an arm and used psychic, focusing the energy on Pratt's shield. With a massive hiss, it broke.

"No!" Pratt shouted, and suddenly dove and hit a button concealed behind the bookshelf. "Now you're all mine, Eve! They'll be dead! You're all mine!" Pratt yelled, and suddenly started laughing hysterically. It was then that I knew he'd lost it for sure.

At first I thought you had to be sane to be an evil genius. Not anymore.

"Something's in the air!" Jaeson shouted abruptly, his eyes widening.

"Lily! Give us some wind!" I shouted. I knew she hadn't been prepared for this...

"I'm here to help!" I heard her call from the window. (I thanked my lucky stars for teleportation.) Abruptly hurricane-force wind smashed us all against the wall.

Jaeson closed his eyes, probably sensing the air, and then yelled a few moments later, "We're okay now!" The wind stopped.

"Ha ha ha! They're still dead!" Pratt yelled, still lying on the floor. "Still dead...!"

"The base!" Eve gasped, shock rocking her aura. "He means the base!"

"Austin! Uxie! Get out of there!" I yelled.

There was no response.

"Shit!" I shouted to the air.

"I'll see what I can do!" Lily called from outside.

"I'll help her," Jaeson nodded, and Jay followed him as they both teleported.

"Destiny! We need you here! Will, Laek, you guys as well!" I commanded. My voice shook with fear and the beginnings of grief and sorrow.

"...help..." suddenly drifted through my earpiece. It was Austin's voice.

"I'll go and help Jaeson and Jay," Destiny said, her voice worried. "Will, Laek, can you guys get over there?"

"We're on it," Will responded.

That left Eve, Thunder, and I alone with Pratt, who was still on the floor.

"I win!" he suddenly gasped, and the door snapped shut. Pratt popped up off the ground and looked at the three of us with a malevolent stare.

Thunder tried to get back into the vent, but there was a purple psychic shield blocking us.

"Shit," I swore.

I morphed into my riolu form; Eve became an eevee; Thunder landed silently beside us as a pikachu.

Eve growled.

We prepared to fight.

Author's Note:

Will they win? Will they all meet their doom at the hands of that powerful buttface Pratt? WE WILL SEE!


	34. Not Over Yet

I AM BACK FROM THE DEAD.

Just so you all now, I usually have seven to ten tabs open with the different chapters and google and ffn at my disposal whenever I'm writing.

ENJOY :D

Chapter 34

{NOT OVER YET [eve] TEY REVO TON}

Pratt smirked.

Yeah. Well. That drove me over the edge. As my eyes flashed from brown to violet I felt a black star escape from my fingers.

Pratt dissolved when it hit him.

"What the f***?" Knight demanded, looking confused and annoyed.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Forcing calm into my shivering bones and feeling myself drift into full-power mode, my claws flashed out, and I twisted to scratch the hand. Pratt yelped, and I sprung off the floor and kicked him. Meanwhile, Knight hurled an aura sphere and Thunder threw his paws up and down came a thunderbolt.

Pratt shook with electricity for half a moment before suddenly yelling, tomato-red with anger, "That's it!" Then he snapped his fingers.

The three of us instinctively jumped, and arrows shot past where we had just been standing.

"Smart," Pratt praised, smirking a little. "But not smart enough."

Pratt began to snap, but I put a paw up. My eyes, already dark violet from being in full-power mode, flashed an even darker shade of violet. I felt his muscles freeze beneath my hold, but I felt no smugness or self-satisfaction. I couldn't in this state.

"End him! Now!" I shouted.

Knight and Thunder sprang into action. Knight used iron tail, beating him senselessly with it over and over. Thunder charged both his fists up with electricity, then went at it and hit him over and over again.

I shook as my hold on him shuddered and twitched. "Back... away!" I gasped, and Knight and Thunder jumped back just as I fell forward, my grip and most of my energy gone. 'That a**hole is powerful...' I stood back up instantly and jumped back. I landed, but waved just a bit. 'Man,' I realized, 'I've lost a lot of my skill sitting here, haven't I? Shit.'

"Eve! Charge up a hyper!" Knight called. I merely nodded grimly in response, hoping that I had enough energy left for such a powerful attack. I watched as Knight and Thunder ducked and dodged and jabbed and kicked, letting my power charge up inside me.

Pratt suddenly caught Knight's kick and threw him into the bookshelf. Knight bounced off and landed face-first on the ground, and I gasped as the bookshelf wobbled and finally fell on top of him. Meanwhile, Pratt had grabbed Thunder's ear and whipped him into the wall. My poor friend left a large dent.

An explosion of anger surged inside me suddenly, and I felt my eyes turn a shade of violet that I knew must be so dark it was probably black.

I let loose the hyper beam. Instead of its normal peachy color, it was as black as my eyes probably were and as powerful as my anger.

It hit Pratt, and he collapsed.

Then I did.

But I knew it wasn't over yet.

{NOT OVER YET [will] TEY REVO TON}

"Will! There's a psychic barrier in the room with Pratt and the three!" Jay suddenly gasped into my ear.

My eyes widened in frightened realization as it occurred to me that the thing at the base was to distract us long enough to capture Knight, Eve, and Thunder.

"Is everyone alright at the base?" I demanded, clutching the ear with the headset as if it would help.

"We don't know, Will. We can't get in. There's some type of block there, too," Jay admitted. "And I've lost connection with Jaeson as well as the base and Knight, Eve, and Thunder."

"Shoot," I said, worried beyond belief. "Stay online," I told Jay, then turned to Laek. "Let's get in there."

Pratt was just getting up again when we got there. His back was to us, so we had the element of surprise on our side. "Are you ready for our little trick?" I asked Laek quietly, smirking a little. We hadn't done this since Pratt's first wall when we'd been trapped in the basement so long ago.

"Let's do it," he said.

I cracked my knuckles and morphed in a buizel, then Laek turned into a jolteon behind me. He set his paws on my shoulders and electricity started coursing through me. After a moment of letting my body get used to it circulating, I gripped the shield in my paws and easily yanked it backwards, dismantling it.

"I win!" Pratt shouted, beginning to laugh.

"Wait," I whispered, holding up a paw. Pratt stopped his laugh and started to turn. "Now!" I shouted, and Laek shoved me, and I used the kinetic energy to make my jump higher. I flipped in the air, carefully aimed sonic booms bouncing off my tail and hitting Pratt.

Laek darted forward and grabbed Knight's scruff in his jaw. He started gently tugging him backwards.

"Hey!" Pratt shouted. He took a step towards my friends. I responded by landing and then springing up to smash his face in with my fist. I was never one for revenge, but, well...

Pratt, suddenly fed up with his human form, morphed into an drowsee and smirked.

"Just what we need: a f***ing psychic hippo," Laek muttered through Knight's scruff in his jaws.

Pratt raised his arms up in a psychic attack. Eve, Thunder, Knight, Laek and I were all yanked up into the air, and with a flick of his fingers we were thrown against the wall.

"Huh!" I gasped, the air driven out of my lungs. I couldn't move. 'Fudge,' I thought. 'Now we're screwed.'

I didn't notice Eve blink open her eyes. It was just a second, but it must have been enough for her to figure out what was going on.

I knew this because she suddenly snapped open her eyes and, with something like a roar, she jumped on Pratt and started scratching his face. "Let go of my friends!" she screamed, her violet eyes dark.

Pratt stepped back, about to collapse, and Eve jumped off of his head and held up a paw. Pratt did, too, at the same time, and both of them froze.

I knew what Eve had done.

I took several deep breaths before struggling to stand up. Pratt's psychic hold on me glowed pink, trying and failing to haul me back to the wall as I walked slowly and painfully to attack him, who couldn't stop me because he was frozen by Eve's barrier. Laek saw me and got the message, gently letting go of Knight and beginning to walk towards Pratt as well.

Suddenly an aura sphere rushed through the window, smashing Pratt to the ground.

Austin climbed up and rolled into the window, looking grim... and very pissed off.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED!

Oooh, what shall occur? Remember where Austin was, and who he was with, and who Pratt is, children.


	35. Abrupt

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 35

{ABRUPT [austin] TPURBA}

Lily, Destiny, Uxie, and I were walking down the hallways of the base, headsets covering our ears. It occurred to me once again that Will was most definitely a prodigy as he directed me via the headset to a very special room.

The room had a huge screen and a small sphere that looked like it would fit in a riolu's paws perfectly- which made me immediately think that it was for projecting auric images. Will never ceased to impress me.

I morphed into a lucario and then gently laid my paws on the sphere's surface. The screen lit up in front of me, the room appearing blue around us on the white material of the walls.

"Whoa," I said, smiling with amazement. "This is cool."

"Yeah..." Lily agreed as she watched it.

We kind of sat in the room for a long time, not doing much. We comforted and directed when necessary, but I handled most of everything. While no one spoke we watched the projector ball show us some cool aura stuff.

We waited. The most exciting thing that happened was about an hour later when Knight shouted, "Lily! Give us some wind!" Lily teleported immediately, and something like dread slowly starting curling whispering fingers around my heart.

A moment after she left, Uxie stopped levitating and fell to the ground.

"Uxie!" I gasped, and fell to my knees beside her. She looked dazed, her eyes rolling around and her mouth wide open. "Someone help! Uxie's down!" I shouted into the earpiece, clutching it like a lifesaver.

I received no response.

"F***," I spat onto the ground beside me.

Suddenly my muscles stopped working. I collapsed next to Uxie, my thoughts running wild. What was happening? Had Pratt set this all up before hand? Or were his psychic powers strong enough to do this without some chemical?

For everyone's sake, I hoped the latter was false.

Some countless minutes later, I began to hear things from the headset again. Whispers of words and someone's hard breathing. I heard someone call my name. Jay.

I focused hard on my lips, knowing this was my chance. I had to get help for Uxie and I- _had__to_. "J-J-Jay," I finally whispered, my voice helpless and breathy. "Help."

I got no response, and I stopped hearing things from the headset.

Two minutes later the door smashed down and Jaeson, Destiny, Lily, and Jay appeared in the doorway.

"Are they still conscious?" Lily wondered.

"Yeah," Destiny responded.

Jay and Jaeson rushed over, Jaeson checking Uxie's pulse and Jay mine.

"Hit the nerve above the collarbone," Jay instructed Jaeson, though I guessed Jaeson probably knew to do it anyway. Jay jabbed the bump of my collarbone hard and I felt feeling burst into my body.

"Ow!" I gasped, my paw automatically darting to the spot where Jay'd hit and rubbed it. "I think you fractured my collarbone, Jay."

Jay smiled, looking relieved. "I didn't, don't worry."

"Huh!" Uxie suddenly gasped. "Thank you, Jaeson."

"Are you both alright?" Destiny and Lily demanded at once.

"Yeah," I responded. I slowly stood up, and Lily came over to help me.

"Me as well," Uxie said, beginning to levitate again.

"... But considering that we're all here and there's only Will and Laek to help the kids, this was probably a trap," I told everyone.

Jaeson swore.

Though my heart started racing, I calmly walked out of the room, saying, "Let's go."

Abruptly there was a bang. Uxie immediately attempted to take hold of Lily's shoulder, but missed and teleported before she could try again. Jaeson grabbed Destiny's arm and threw her out of the room, then began to teleport after taking Lily and Jays' hands, but he wasn't fast enough. The roof of the room collapsed, and the room filled with debris from the other floors faster than I could blink.

Stunned, I helped Destiny up off the floor in a shocked state. We both stared at the small room, refusing to let the truth flood into our brains. Finally I took Destiny's hand and began to lead her out of the base, knowing the whole entire building collapse could possibly collapse.

As we exited finally, I flinched as the thought finally ran through my head.

'Jay, Jaeson, and Lily are dead.'

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

OOOO SUSPENSE!

You should all know that today shall be the day this story is finished :D

Hope you enjoy, the next chapters will soon be up n.n


	36. Strength

Well, guys, Brock scares the crap out of me xD Officially.

ENJOY!

Chapter 36

{STRENGTH [will] HTGNERTS}

The aura sphere hit Pratt, knocking him over. Relief flooded through me as I felt the psychic hold collapse.

"Austin?" I wondered, my eyes asking if he was all right.

He simply took his head and began to charge up another aura sphere.

I summoned a water pulse and chucked it at Pratt. It threw him against the wall, effectively soaking him and the room itself.

"Shield?" Eve wondered, and I nodded.

Her eyes flashed and a purple protecting screen appeared around all our team except Laek, who yelled a battle cry and used thunderbolt.

Electricity jolted around the room, shocking and singing everything that wasn't under Eve's shield. He shrieked like a hundred dying meowths while his fine drowsee fur blackened as it burnt to a crisp. Eve smirked, and a small, somewhat frightening thought occurred to me: this was probably music to her ears.

I waited patiently until the electricity faded and Eve dispersed her shield before carefully stepping forward. Pratt did not move. No one did.

"He's still alive," Austin said in a quiet hiss. I glanced back at him and found that he was shaking with agitation.

We stared at Pratt for a few more moments, until I decided he was down for now, and then I glanced up at Austin again and asked, "What happened to you?" Hissing wasn't like the Austin I knew.

He breathed deeply before he answered. "Lily, Jaeson, and Jay are dead," he murmured in a tiny voice, looking away. Austin abruptly growled and threw another aura sphere at Pratt, whose body jumped in the air, smacked the ceiling, and landed on its stomach.

Suddenly a light flashed and Uxie teleported into the room, on her guard. "Is he down?"

"Down enough," Eve remarked, sounding annoyed, and her violet eyes flashed. Dark magic covered Pratt like a psychic attack. She twitched a claw and his eyes were forced open.

"What...?" Pratt's voice came dribbling out.

Uxie rushed over to him and sat at his side. She, to my surprise, opened her eyes. Both their eyes glowed white, and neither moved.

"What's happening to them?" Austin wondered with sad eyes and a voice that said, "I've already lost so many. Please, tell me no more."

"...I believe she's taking his memories," I answered quietly. "Like Knight suggested."

"Why are they not moving?" Eve wondered.

"Locked in focus, I'd assume. Maybe mind-battling for control over Pratt's memories," I told her.

"What if she loses?" Austin asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," I admitted honestly. "As far as I know, he doesn't have the power to take or alter her memories whatsoever, but she has the complete and fully functional ability to completely erase or alter his mind. Also, her mind is possibly the strongest this planet will ever see. If she loses, then we're all screwed for eternity."

No one responded. I imagined that dread, like a fist, was squeezing Eve, Laek, and Austin. I for one was not worried about the legend: I believed in her power.

Eve suddenly demanded, "Wait a minute. You weren't serious when you said that Lily, Jay, and Jaeson were dead, did you?" Her eyes were abruptly a cloud of sorrow and denial, her lips pressed tightly together in dread.

Austin cringed and whispered, "I... I was."

"Then it isn't over," Laek murmured quietly.

"Let's head back over there," I suggested.

"One of us should stay," Eve decided. She glanced at Pratt, a flicker of nervousness appearing in her eyes for barely enough time for me to register it.

"It won't be you," I told her softly, sympathy in my eyes. She gave me a slight nod of thanks.

"I'll stay back. Knight and Thunder will help me when they wake up," Laek said, sitting up with his head held high. "The rest of you go back to base and see what's happening there."

"Okay," I agreed, nodding.

"Wait," Eve said as Austin and I began moving towards the stairs, "Where's Destiny?"

"I'm here," Destiny said as she teleported into the room as an espeon. "Gimme your paws and we'll teleport to the base."

I mentally sighed of relief. I knew that if Destiny was dead on top of Jay, Jaeson, and Lily, there would be some major problems. Austin would have to contact the other legends and they'd have to find a way to figure out what would happen next. Would they reincarnate right away? When they did, where would they end up? Would Pratt be able to find them if his memories weren't taken away and Uxie was hurt? My head started throbbing as I thought, so I stopped. Destiny was fine, and maybe some of the others were, too.

I felt a nudge and came out of my thoughts completely. Eve held up her paw and I took it. Austin took my other paw and we teleported.

We landed outside the special room I'd created for Knight. The ceiling had caved in and only debris filled the space now.

Destiny abruptly morphed into a kirlia and grabbed Austin's paw. She was totally silent and totally still, but her face flushed bright pink. Sensing she was about to burst into unwanted tears, I stood next to her, hoping my presence would offer some support. Eve hung back behind the three of us, staring emotionlessly at the floor. Knowing her well enough, I could tell she was afraid of what we'd find.

When Destiny's face returned to normal coloration and she morphed back into an espeon, releasing Austin's paw, I knew she'd be all right... for a while. As everyone stood, silence in their spirits, I mentally bit my lip, took a deep breath, and stepped up to the plate once again. We needed some orders to follow, I felt.

"Okay, everyone. Austin and I are going to start checking here for any trace of a bomb," I told my friends, my head held high despite the numbness I felt inside. "Eve and Destiny, I want you two to start walking and look for anything abnormal around the base."

For a moment the others just stared at me. Then Eve gave me a nod and told Destiny, "Come on. We've got work to do. You look at the ceilings, I'll look at the floors. No matter what, don't separate from me. This place is a huge maze." With that she started walking, setting for her and Destiny a swift pace. It took a moment, but Destiny nodded and ran to catch up.

"Okay. What exactly are we looking for, Will?" Austin wondered, seriousness taking over his numb expression.

"Bodies," I responded quietly. "I just wanted Eve and Destiny out of here. Eve likes to pretend she isn't phased by their deaths, but I can tell you she is. I know you are, too, but you know very well that you'll see them next life. Eve and Destiny's souls are too young to know that yet."

"Agreed," Austin said, nodding.

We began to slowly move chunks of what used to be the ceiling out of the way as we looked. Austin wondered quietly, "Any chance they're still alive?"

"No," I responded curtly. "They're dead. I purposely made the roof of this place out of the rocks of this mountain, and those rocks are heavy as hell, as you can probably tell. It takes a lot less force to crush you than you'd think. I don't really even think there'll be bodies left. Just... flesh, maybe."

Austin flinched at the thought of his friends being crushed. His voice cracked as he yelled at the rocks, "I hate that bastard. I hate him."

"I know," I responded, preparing advice, reassurance, et cetera. Preparing for his vent.

"He's killed so many. Injured, corrupted, mentally hurt even more," Austin said, his voice getting harsher and his body growing tenser with each word.

"Uxie is going to take out his memories. John Pratt will die metaphorically by that. Uxie'll probably have to kill him, too, so he won't have any doctors or anyone trying to help him remember anything," I told Austin. "Not that there'll be anything to remember. I believe that his ability to remember himself through reincarnation will also end as he will no longer be part of the legend because his soul has no memory of it."

"Does the memory die?" Austin wondered.

"No. Uxie will have to live with it forever. She has only done this because we need to know why legends have stopped remembering themselves through their lives," I informed him. "Otherwise she wouldn't just erased them."

Austin cringed, probably thinking about holding Pratt's memories as your own for all eternity. He asked next, "How do you know all this?"

"A lot of it I'm assuming from what I've gathered between speaking to a few legends through my years and reading all the written legends I could get my paws on," I said.

Austin nodded. "You're almost as smart as Jay and Jaeson a- were."

I nodded my thanks and we both silenced ourselves, neither of us able to pull our minds from the facts of death as we unburied what little remained from our friends.

{STRENGTH [eve] HTGNERTS}

I padded swiftly down the corridor, trying to push the bloody task I knew Will and Austin were taking up out of my mind. Destiny trotted after me, searching the ceilings. I stared at the floor, knowing the real reason why Will and Austin had sent us away. "You don't have to look for anything. This is just busywork, you know."

"Oh, I know," Destiny murmured, still lifting her head and searching.

"Then why are you looking?" I wondered.

"I'm trying to distract myself and pretend there _is_ something wrong," Destiny told me, still craning her neck in different directions to scan for something we both knew didn't exist. "Much like you're trying to do, I imagine."

"Yeah," I admitted quietly. "Distraction is nice, but not working."

"Not for me, either," Destiny said with a shrug. She suddenly stopped and asked me, "Why are we still walking?"

I stopped and turned to face her. "I don't know," I responded, also shrugging.

We sat in silence for a moment before Destiny asked quietly, "Do you realize how strong Will is?"

"Yeah," I told her. I stared down at the floor. "He must be. He's always stepping up at times like this. When Laek was kidnapped, I almost cried, I was so sad. Knight and Thunder, too. Will's face was all red, and he was tense and I could tell he was holding back tears, but he talked to us with a strong, calm voice." I looked away from Destiny. "Told us we'd all be okay in the end. Laek would be fine. That night he didn't shed a tear until after the three of us went to bed. We all gathered in my room and Will told us stories from when he and Laek were younger, like our age. He made us laugh. Then Knight and Thunder fell asleep, and I pretended to. Will stayed for a few minutes, and then he left. I snuck out and leaned against his door, wondering how bad he really felt. He cried all night long, I swear. It was so quiet, but I could smell his tears. I eventually went to bed. In the morning, though, he was his happy-go-lucky self and he made everybody breakfast in bed and he just... I don't know." I looked at Destiny again. "He helped us through it. I have to wonder, though, who helps him."

"He is strong," murmured Destiny softly, looking at her feet. She met my gaze and smiled bittersweetly. "I don't know terribly much about Will, but from what I have heard and what I've seen your smiles help him through it. Seeing you all be happy makes him happy, too."

I sighed and looked away again. "It sounds right to me. But you know, when I was little I used to wonder what real strength was. I don't know how, but I came to the conclusion that strong people never cried, so I always tried not to. I thought tears were weaknesses. But after watching Will, I know that the strongest people are the ones who cry, but they let the others cry first. I mean, they help the others as they cry, and then they let themselves cry. Tears aren't weaknesses, either. Tears signify emotion and feeling and empathy and a bunch of other things that a leader needs. So the strongest people are the ones who are hit the hardest but they help everybody else get through it first and then let themselves cry."

Destiny nodded. "You're right." And that's when she smiled and told me, "You know, I may not be able to help the dead, but I sure as hell can help the living."

But before I could ask her what she meant, she was already gone, running down the hallway towards where we'd came from, me frantically chasing after her.

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed!


	37. Unconscious

Enjoy!

{UNCONSCIOUS [eve] SUOICNOCNU}

I rushed after Destiny, surprised at how fast she could go. "Left," I told her the one time she stopped, confused, but otherwise she knew the rest of the way back.

Just as we arrived back, Austin and Will were gently laying Jaeson's body (still in human form)- bloody and beaten and pretty squashed- on the ground among the piles of rocks and roofing.

At the sight Destiny fainted beside me.

{UNCONSCIOUS [knight] SUOICNOCNU}

With a groan I blinked open my tired eyes. Looking around, I noticed Laek, watching over Pratt like a guarddog. Uxie was next to the evil bastard, both his and her eyes glowing a dulling white. Neither were moving. Thunder laid near me, totally knocked out. "Where's everyone else?" I wondered, my voice cracking and sounding broken as I spoke.

Laek glanced back at me and offered a small smile of reassurance. "Will and Eve are with Destiny and Austin back at the base. Thunder is still knocked out, as you probably know, and Uxie is taking Pratt's memories."

"What about Jay, Jaeson, and Lily?" I wondered, but Laek answered with only a silence that quickly turned grim. Laek glanced back and met my gaze for a moment, his expressionless eyes confirming my fears.

They were dead.

I laid my head back and sighed sadly, letting myself rest in my misery for a moment before standing up and joining Laek as he stood guard over Pratt and protected Uxie.

{UNCONSCIOUS [austin] SUOICNOCNU}

Leaving Eve to watch the fainted Destiny, Will and I climbed back to the spot where we'd found Jaeson. Lily lied in the hole, her body broken and blood gushing from several areas of her body. I watched as Will ran a paw over her ribs and looked up to report, "She's breathing, but her blood is running out and all her ribs are broken. No doubt her lungs and heart and probably other organs have been punctured. She won't live."

I immediately raced down to her, morphed into my own human form, and sat down and pulled her gently into my lap. I looked up at Will gratefully and responded, "I thought she'd already be dead, honestly."

Suddenly Lily coughed hard and her eyes blinked open. Her nose was bleeding and the blood dripped down her face, her left eye wouldn't open, her right eye was cloudy towards the left, and when she smiled she was missing teeth. Despite it all, she was alive, and she seemed more beautiful to me than she ever had.

"I love you with all my heart, and I always will, Lily," I told her as I felt my face flush and tears begin to crawl down my cheeks.

Lily choked out, "I love you," then coughed some more. Blood spluttered out. She looked up at me with her one eye and smiled brightly, then her head suddenly rolled back and I knew she was gone.

I sat there staring until one of my tears dripped down onto her perfect face. I wiped it away, knowing it would be the last time I ever did it.

I gently stood up and carried her over the mountain of rock and placed her next to Jaeson. There I closed her eye, signaling to myself that she was really gone.

"She was a great person," Eve offered. She wouldn't look up, just stared down at Destiny's fainted form as it began to stir.

I morphed back into a lucario and responded, "Thanks."

"And Jaeson was... a lot like me. I'm sorry," Eve said quietly.

I stared at her for a long time, wondering if she meant she was sorry Jaeson's life was short and he lived it with a heart that barely got a chance to start thawing, or if she was sorry that he was dead. Probably both, I realized, but more so the first. "A lot like me," she had said. She wasn't dead.

I just nodded and climbed back up to Will, who was kneeling on the bloody spot where Lily and Jaeson had been, frowning with confusion in his eyes.

"What?" I wondered.

"Jay's not dead, I don't think," Will murmured quietly. "His body would be in this area right here."

I closed my eyes, using my aura, hope blossoming in my chest. "He's in the room under this one!" I gasped, smiling. "And he's alive, I think! When Jaeson tried to teleport, I guess Jay managed to get himself down below."

Will smiled broadly. "Okay," he said, then thought for a moment. I could hear him asking himself, "Who needs to see a friend alive the most out of the three of us?" A moment later he said, "Eve will take you to get him. I'll stay here with Destiny and Jaeson and Lily's bodies."

"Okay," I said, nodding. We climbed back up and told Eve.

"Let's go," she said. The sadness in her eyes and face receded a little, but she didn't smile. I guess she was closer to Jaeson than I thought. Probably him, anyway- she and Lily I didn't think were a very good pairing. Plus what she'd said about him a few minutes ago.

Eve led me down the corridors and stairs. It took a few minutes before we managed to get down to the room. Meanwhile, I felt Jay's aura beginning to dim. I worried if he was actually alive. After all, your aura stays with you for a while after you die. Jaeson and Lily's were fading fast, but Jay's was just a little. I wondered if he was just very injured. I hoped so.

"Here first," Eve murmured, then turned into a room. It looked like a doctor's office and a hospital room combined with a cot and medical supplies everywhere. Cabinets lined the walls, one of which Eve jumped up onto and then grabbed a small white kit with a red plus sign on it. "Okay. Come on." I couldn't help notice the numbness that had begun to settle in her voice and her eyes.

She led me into the room and flicked on the lights. It was pretty small, with dark green walls and brown carpeting. Jay was lying in the middle of it, his right arm thrown over his eyes and his left bent under him with his legs splayed out in painful-looking positions.

"Jay!" I gasped, and raced over to him. I carefully took his arm from out from under him and checked his pulse. He was alive. I felt along his arm, noticing his grunt as I did so. Definitely broken. Glancing up and down his body for bleeding, I found, thankfully, the only source was a blossom of blood on his chest. It wasn't good, but... one was better than two or three or five. Eve padded over and moved his arm from his face. Dried blood was under his nose and trailed down his cheek, so he evidently had a nosebleed earlier.

"Open his shirt," Eve told me.

I nodded and unbuttoned it. Blood pooled around an indented area just under his heart. Not his heart, not his heart. I sighed in relief.

"Don't," Eve warned, eyeing me as a warning. "There's a lot of tissue under the heart."

"It's better than if it was the heart itself," I murmured.

Eve shrugged and said, "We'll see. I'm going to call Will down here. He's got a medical degree. I'm sure he can help him."

I simply nodded as she went over to the wall and knocked on it. A phone came out of the wall and Eve dialed. I listened as she relayed what we knew.

Will was down in two minutes, Destiny lagging behind with her head down. He was in his human form, pushing the cot I'd seen earlier.

Without a word I helped him lift Jay up onto the cot. He groaned again and his eyelids fluttered. They kept at it but didn't open until we'd gotten him into the medical room.

"Help," Jay managed to get out, the word a squeak of pain. He tensed hard and started shivering, his eyes opening once or twice for a moment every few seconds.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, it's okay," Will murmured, quickly walking around the room, gathering supplies.

Eve morphed into a human and took his hand. I smiled my thanks to her, and she simply nodded. Destiny morphed into a human and took his other hand. I morphed, too, and put a hand on her shoulder for a moment. She gave me a small smile. I smiled back and stood back to watch Will.

Jay squeaked again, and Will sped up a little. He fixed a mask over Jay's mouth and nose and flipped a switch on the wall. Destiny felt his pulse and reported quietly, "He's falling asleep."

"Good, good," Will murmured softly in response. "I have to operate on him. If you guys would like to leave, please do so now."

"Come on, let Will work," I told Destiny, gently tugging her away. For a moment she wouldn't budge, just held tightly to Jay's hand. I wrapped her in a hug and said, "It'll be better for Will and Jay if you let Will help him, okay?"

"Okay," Destiny finally said, and she let me take her out of the room.

"I'll stay and help," Eve said quietly. Will nodded his thanks.

"It should only take thirty minutes," Will told me as he set up a tray of sharp-looking tools. "Actually, Eve, take them to the control room and contact Laek. Tell him and the others what's going on. If there's a situation, I trust you to handle it. Remember that Austin and Destiny can help you."

Eve nodded and led us away.

With Jay in surgery and Jaeson and Lily's bodies growing cold above on the floor above us, I knew this would be the longest thirty minutes of all my lives combined.

Author's Note:

Well. This chapter sucked to write, sucked to edit, just all around was not a fun chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it anyway :)


	38. It's Over-- Or Has It Just Begun

Second to last chapter... I'm sad, but I hope you guys enjoy anyway :)

{IT'S OVER- OR HAS IT JUST BEGUN [knight] NUGEB TSUJ TI SAH RO -REVO S'TI}

Suddenly Uxie and Pratt's eyes stopped glowing. Uxie collapsed, gasping. Laek bounded over to and then stood protectively above her. Pratt's body shook for a few seconds and then stood absolutely still.

"He's dead," Uxie gasped. "And his memories... now belong to me." With that she fainted.

I slowly moved towards the vile creature that had been Pratt and felt the wrist. No pulse. Closed my eyes. Aura fading fast.

"He's dead," I confirmed grimly. "Pratt is dead. It's over now. He's dead and his memories are gone. And he's dead."

"It's over?" Thunder's small voice echoed through my brain. I turned to him, a bittersweet smile on my face.

"He's dead," I repeated. "So yeah. It's over now."

Laek suddenly touched his earpiece and said, "Hello. I'm here. Knight and Thunder are both awake. Pratt is dead. Uxie is alive, but exhausted and unconscious. Eve? What?" Silence for a moment. "Oh," Laek murmured. "Jaeson and Lily are the only casualties. So far? Oh. Okay. If Will's in surgery with Jay, Jay'll be fine."

I looked at Thunder. He looked back. Our sadness was mutual.

But we'd won.

Only two dead in this war. I thought that was pretty good.

But it was just as sad as it was happy.

{IT'S OVER- OR HAS IT JUST BEGUN [will] NUGEB TSUJ TI SAH RO -REVO S'TI}

The next morning, I sat at the table, what was left of my friends around it with me. Uxie sat to my right, ready to help explain. She would have done it all herself, but looking at Pratt's memories was still too painful for her.

"Pratt put up a special mind shield in each legend that prevented you all from remembering. He did it a year, we believe, after Laek and I reincarnated. He missed that his shield could be broken by a specific auric key that could be pulsated into you through a sphere or through words that had this certain effect on your aura. The certain aura combination is not easy to translate into emotions, but it is somewhere between extreme happiness and sadness as opposed to jealousy or surprise. How? Well, he's just that powerful." I smiled a bit and rephrased. "Was. Pratt was. He has, by the way, also now officially reincarnated into a girl named Sana. The other legends have looked into her parents and declared a watch on her but nothing else. She is still considered a threat but only barely."

{IT'S OVER- OR HAS IT JUST BEGUN [knight] NUGEB TSUJ TI SAH RO -REVO S'TI}

About a week later I walked up to my favorite place in the base: the roof, specifically the only section of actual visible real roofing that lied hidden among the rocks. I loved to hang my legs off the side and lay back to watch the stars, especially when I was troubled.

That night I was not alone, however. Eve was up there in my favorite position in pretty much my favorite spot.

"Hey," I said softly, walking over to her and lying down next to her. "Nice up here, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Eve whispered, looking up at the stars. Her eyes were unfocused and her aura was clouded: something was troubling her.

I frowned. "Eve, what's wrong?"

Eve gave an enormous sigh. "Oh, a lot of things. There are robbers and cheaters and murderers running about robbing and cheating and murdering people. The sky seems dimmer every day, like the whole planet is just slowly giving up on its inhabitants. And people are born and people die and people cook food and kiss and have kids and go to school and just kep f***ing moving along, never realizing how every second or whatever someone else is smiling or dying or getting surgery or something like that. And Jaeson and Lily and Pratt are dead and nobody bloody knows it but all of us and it's just weird, the way the world works. Everybody's doing something but nobody's thinking about all the other somethings that could be going on and just... I don't know, Knight. I don't know."

I took a deep breath and found her hand with my own. "You're not nobody."

Eve shrugged. "Compared to all the somebodys in all the worlds, yeah, I am a nobody. Everybody's a nobody." She snorted then. "What an ironic oxymoron. Everybody's a nobody. I like it.

"You're not a nobody to me, Eve," I told her softly, scooting just a centimeter closer to her.

Eve's eyes darted to me and my sudden closerness and then back at the stars. "In your world I'm a somebody and in my world you're a somebody but in someone a hundred miles away's world we're all nobody's. But you know."

"I know what?" I asked.

Eve shrugged. "I don't even know anymore, Knight. Not that I ever really did."

I watched her aura: nothing much changed. It clouded just a little more, a little teeny tiny blossom of pink bloomed over there... Wait. Pink? Pink was love. Pink?

"That's okay," I whispered.

She whispered back, "Something's not okay."

"Are you going to tell me what? Or are we going to play charades?" I wondered.

Eve smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I like charades."

"Me too."

"But I don't wanna play it right now."

"Me neither."

"So here's what's going to happen," Eve began, rolling her head to meet my gaze. "We're going to stand up. And then I'm going to do something that's ridiculously unlike me, and if you tell a soul I will personally kill you, got it?"

The little pink blossom bursted a little bigger as I stood up without questioning her. She stood up as well.

I didn't know what to have expected, I really didn't. But I could never, ever in a million years guess what she did next.

First she took my hand in her and studied it, then remarked, "Your hand's different from his." She folded her slim fingers around mine and whispered, "Very different. It's warm and happy and soft while his was like a dead flipping fish." I knew who she was talking about: Pratt.

"I'm glad," I whispered, and I was.

"Me too," she said, her voice quieter than a mouse pokemon's. Then suddenly she wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face in my chest. I embraced her gently and put my head on her shoulder as I began to feel her shoulders shake and my chest wet with her tears. I could count the times Eve had cried on one hand, so this was obviously really shocking. And you know, the fact that she was holding me as she did it. The only times she cried were when we were really little and even then she would hide somewhere when she did it. Eve had never, ever cried in front of anyone.

Abruptly she stopped crying and pushed away from me to go lay back down on the edge of the roof.

I walked back over and lied down next to her. She sniffled and wiped her face with her wrist. "Tell no one," she demanded, but her voice sounded teary, which I knew she would hate.

I smiled. "I would never."

She smiled back, and I was surprised to see she blushed a little and looked away. "I know." She reached for my hand. I took her gently.

I took a deep breath and again moved a bit closer to her. She rolled her head to meet my gaze. I stopped inching closer to her.

I wondered softly, "Why did you pick me?"

Eve looked back up at the stars and said aloud, "Why did I pick your shoulder to cry on? Well, because Will's my dad and Thunder's my brother. Will would be all overly supportive and try and talk it out with me and I honestly cannot handle that right now. And Thunder, poor Thunder... I feel like he couldn't grasp me crying and wouldn't know what in hell to do. You..." She breathed in and out, in and out before whispering, "I like you."

A huge, stupid smile creeped across my face and I had to actually look away until it passed. "I like you too. Maybe..." I bit my lip and looked away again to whisper, "Maybe more than 'like.'"

I felt Eve scoot closer to me. "Stand up again for me, will you, Knight?" she whispered.

I did, and she did, and we stood close, so so close. I was not much taller than her but I still had to look down just a little to see her beautiful face.

Suddenly I leaned down and she tilted her head up and our lips met in such a perfect tiny little motion and our arms were abruptly around each other and the shapes of our bodies fit just right and the moment was so obnoxiously wonderful and amazing and Gawd did I love her and her aura was flipping bright pink and Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve I hope this moment never ends-

And then it did and Eve and I looked at each other, our faces barely an inch away, and she closed her eyes and so did I and we kissed again and there were fireworks in my mind and just... and we just were like that and the moment became an hour and then two and then it was morning and we woke up side by side with our feet hanging off the edge and our hands linked together.

Author's Note:

Hope you all enjoyed :)


	39. Epilogue

Last chapter :'(

Hope you enjoy :')

{EPILOGUE [the voice of jay] EUGOLIPE}

We held our own private funeral for Jaeson and Lily. Everyone dressed in black and stood around the closed caskets. No one wanted to see their bloody bodies.

I stood back, feeling more than ever the bandages around my chest and the cast that kept my arm together. I wondered, as we all stood around the empty holes in which we were to bury our friends, why I was still living. I understood Jaeson had tried to teleport Lily and I. I understood Lily and Jaeson had both purposely landed on top of me to try and save my life. Did they both use their last moments of consciousness before the rocks crushed them to teleport me through the floor? I guessed so.

I looked up into the sky and thought, 'Thank you. Thank you both.'

We buried Jaeson and Lily without the casket. It was a natural pokemonic thing to want to return to the earth as soon as possible. Neither had wills, but the people who would normally deal with a will trusted us enough.

We built a small pond over Lily's grave and filled it with the flowers for which she was named.

Over Jaeson's grave we planted a birch tree, the tree known to bring new beginnings.

Eve came to sit under the tree quite often, which I hadn't expected. Obviously she and Jaeson had spoken about something important to her. I wondered what.

Austin eventually built a house behind Lily's pond. The water stayed strangely clear, no matter what the weather. In the center Austin gently placed a ring, burying it in a way so that the jewel at the top was the only thing that one could see. The other ring stayed on his ring finger no matter what.

Destiny and Felix married. Their two children, Fauna and Alexander, looked just like them, and the family of four were all very, very happy together.

Eve and Knight, once they were old enough, got married. Thunder later met a girl named Storm, and a few smiles later they were dating and eventually married. Austin nor I married, however.

Laek and Will found the loves of their lives. Will became a great doctor, I might add, and Laek a leading member of the FBI. Eve and Knight followed Laek's path, but Thunder ended up as a great author.

It took several life times, but now Pratt has been defeated.

Forever.

And now we remain here in this little land where our friends are buried until the life we currently live in ends. Now we laugh at old memories as we make new ones. Now we explore the world around us. Now we look up and see the sky as a beautiful blue eternity. Now we finally have a chance to look around and learn to see the majesty of the flower, the small indents in the trees that shape them, how every blade of grass adds a little more of that bright green to our world. Now we learn not about battles but about what you'd call a normal life, even maybe what you would call peace.

Now we wait for our next adventure.

AuThOr'S nOtE:

And so ends the Connections trilogy. I truly enjoyed writing this series and I am really, really going to miss these characters... so much that maybe a spin-off will emerge (maybe).

Austin and Jaeson and Lily and Eve and Jay and all of them and I thank you so, so, so much for reading and for all the support I've gotten with these stories. So thank you, thank you all :D


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